War in Heaven
by LarielRomeniel
Summary: Sequel to “Tracking Torchwood.” When you leave unfinished business scattered across Time and Space, it’s bound to catch up with you.
1. Chapter 1 Discord

**Author's Notes:** This story is set several months after the events of "Tracking Torchwood," and shortly after "The Midnight Clear." The title of Madhukar's book is borrowed from the _Rassilon, Omega, and that Other Guy _website, which is fantastic for Doctor Who research. Kit and Madhukar are mine; all else belongs to the BBC. Thanks to Aibhinn for beta services.

* * *

**Chapter One – Discord**

"Acarya, may I ask you a question?"

The Doctor looked down from his perch on the library ladder. His student was standing at its foot with a thick, leather-bound book in his hands, held open in the middle. "You know that asking questions is the only way we ever learn, Madhukar," the Doctor answered. "The greatest discoveries were made because someone asked a question. All scientific progress has been made because someone needed the answer to a question!" He hopped down to the floor, with the book he'd been seeking in his hand. "One very wise man said one's first step in wisdom is to question everything. Another wise man said it's better to know some of the questions than all of the answers. And the most intelligent human who ever lived was intelligent enough to know that the important thing is not to stop questioning! If you never ask—" he stopped as his student tilted his head to the side, smirking with a sardonic lift of one orange-red eyebrow.

Oh, yes. Rose and Jack had indeed managed to _corrupt_ the Seeker over the past few months, just as they'd said they would. Now, whenever the Doctor was just warming to an off-the-subject subject, Madhukar would give him _that_ look and stop him cold.

The very same look Rose and Jack used.

Well. At least Madhukar still addressed him as _Honored Teacher_ in his own language. So they hadn't quite made him disrespectful.

Yet.

The Doctor cleared his throat and dropped into his favorite chair. "Right, then. What was your question?"

The smirk vanished. Madhukar looked a little uncomfortable as he held his book up. The Doctor read the title: _The Laws of Time and the Rules Governing Time Lords from the Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey_. "These laws you told me to study. I'm confused about them."

The Doctor put down his own book and took off his glasses. He motioned for Madhukar to take the seat opposite him, on the other side of the library fireplace. "What has you confused? They're really very straightforward. No changing history, protect the Web of Time…"

"No traversing your time stream. No coming into contact with past selves. No interference with Time-Unaware races," Madhukar nodded. "And no unauthorized use of a TARDIS. Should I go on?"

The Doctor leaned back in his chair. "Ah. No need. I think I know why you're confused."

"From your own stories, you've broken many of these laws."

The Doctor nodded slowly. "Yes. Well." He paused for a moment, considering. "The first thing you have to understand is the difference between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law."

Madhukar looked at him quizzically. "The law is the law, Acarya."

"Welllll…" How to explain this to a being culturally conditioned to see rules in black and white? The Doctor tilted his head back, looking at the ceiling as if he could find the answers written there. As usual, the ceiling stubbornly refused to produce any answers. He sighed. "Most species aren't as literal about the law as yours is. They allow for shades of grey—"

Two things stopped the Doctor from launching into a lecture on ambiguity. The first was Madhukar sliding from his chair to his knees, clutching the sides of his head with a cry of pain. The second was a tremor that ran through the TARDIS, accompanied by a feeling of confusion and—was that _fear_? In nearly a millennium together, he couldn't ever remember feeling outright fear from her.

Something was very wrong.

"Doctor, what's going on?" Jack was standing in the doorway, bracing himself on the lintels as the TARDIS continued to shake.

"I don't know, Jack!" the Doctor answered as he knelt down in front of Madhukar, who had bent over double, long fingers clenching into his shock of ginger hair as he pressed his palms against his ears. "He started doing this when the TARDIS started shaking. Where's Rose?"

The shaking was becoming more violent as Jack made his way next to them. "I don't know. Hopefully holding onto something solid." He knelt down and put one arm around Madhukar's thin shoulders to hold him steady. He looked at the Doctor. "I'll look after him. Go see what's happening!"

One more worried glance at his student, then the Doctor was dashing out of the library and down the corridor.

_Fearconfusionpainlossfear_… a looping litany of feelings projected from the TARDIS. For once not just tickling the back of his mind, but screaming their way into the forefront of his consciousness as he sprinted toward the console room. _FearconfusionpainlossFEAR!_

She'd _never _done this before.

Something was very, very wrong.

He reached the console room to see the time rotor moving erratically, in fits and starts instead of in the usual smooth up and down motion of centuries. He ran to the console. They were supposed to be in the Vortex, but the position readouts on the monitor were changing almost too quickly for even him to read. From what he could catch, they were flashing between the Vortex and different moments and places in time and space. A millisecond here, a microsecond there, twisting, turning, tumbling out of control. He needed to stop them, set them down in a safe place so that he could check out the TARDIS' systems, and then try to figure out Madhukar's symptoms. But the way they were hopping all over the Web of Time, it would be tricky to do without damaging either the Web or the TARDIS. He'd say i impossible /i …but he'd already learned not to use that word. No, it would just be tricky, especially with his concentration being rattled by the distress emanating from the TARDIS. It would require exquisite timing.

Good thing he was a Time Lord.

Bracing himself on the still-shaking console, he closed his eyes, sending thoughts of comfort and reassurance to the TARDIS. Slowly, he breathed in and out.

_Slower. In. Out._

_Focus. Visualize._

Then his steady, slow breathing hitched for a moment, and he let out a gasp of shock.

Something was very, very, _very _wrong.

_What happened to the Web?_

The transdimensional spiral of history was twisted, distorted. Stretched out of its usual shape. No wonder the TARDIS was skipping over it like a stone skimmed over a lake. He re-centered himself, regaining his concentration. Another slow breath in and out, narrowing in on one thread of the Web to catch on to.

_Caught it._

He pulled a lever, and the TARDIS shuddered violently one more time. Then she was still. The shaking was gone, but the sensations of fear and loss remained. _Loss of what?_

"Doctor?"

He turned, and was relieved to see Rose running into the console room, uninjured but with a worried look on her face. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, but I need you to come with me," she said, crossing the room to the railing where he and Jack tended to throw their coats. She retrieved Jack's and turned to head back out. "Come on!"

No explanations, just a race down the corridor. She stopped at the entrance to the Cloisters. "Give me a moment," she said, and went inside.

"Rose? What is it?" he called. _Why the Cloisters? Come to think of it, why haven't I heard the Cloister bell? The TARDIS is terrified, and the Cloister bell should be ringing like mad._

"Come in, Doctor," Rose called from beyond the entry arch. He passed through the archway—and then stopped short when he saw why she had brought him here.

She was kneeling on the floor. "I was going to the console room when everything started shaking," she said. "As I passed the arch, I heard something falling. When I came in, I found her here."

"Kit?" He knelt next to Rose, eyes widened in surprise. His former companion was sprawled on the paving stones, unconscious. Rose had draped Jack's coat over her. He could see one bare leg sticking out from under the coat, bent at an unnatural angle. "It's almost as if she literally dropped in out of the Vortex." He brushed her hair away from her face and saw scrapes on one cheek. He looked around, and noticed a smear of red on one column. "Or was thrown out of it. It looks like she collided with that."

"She was stark naked, Doctor. And it looked to me like both her arm and leg got broken," Rose told him. "How could that happen?"

"How could any of this happen, Rose?" the Doctor responded. "The TARDIS is in a panic. Madhukar is in pain. The Web of Time is distorted. And now, an angel has fallen into my Cloister room!" He shook his head. "There's no such thing as coincidence, Rose. This is all connected. Give me a hand here."

He lifted Kit off the floor, Rose adjusting the coat to keep it still wrapped around her. "Get Jack. He's in the library with Madhukar. We'll get everyone in the medical bay, and we'll start getting to the bottom of this."

* * *

Jack flew through the medical bay door, rushing to Kit's side. She was still unconscious, lying under his coat with her broken arm and leg exposed. He stroked her hair and bent to kiss her forehead. She didn't stir. He straightened up and looked at the Doctor, who was setting instruments out on the worktable next to her bed. "What the _hell _is going on?" he demanded. 

"I still don't _know_ , Jack," the Doctor replied in a calm voice. He turned to rummage through bottles in one of the storage cabinets. "I _do_ know there's something wrong in the Vortex. I _do_ know something has warped the Web of Time. I _do_ know something is affecting Kit, Madhukar and the TARDIS. What I _don't_ know is _what_ that something is."

"It's the Song, Doctor," Rose said came from the doorway. She was supporting Madhukar, who was still grimacing in pain, slowly shaking his head. As she helped him sink into a seat, the Doctor noticed that she was being very careful not to make skin-to-skin contact with him, the long sleeves of her hoodie pulled over her hands to keep them from touching Madhukar's bare forearm. She looked back at the Doctor. "When I touched him, I could hear it. The Song…it's just noise now. All out of tune. It's…it's _hideous_."

"Discord in the Music of Time," the Doctor murmured. He and Jack couldn't hear it, but Rose could whenever she touched Madhukar: the legacy of the Bad Wolf. "That would explain it. He hears the Music all the time. The TARDIS lives in it, and Kit is one of the singers."

Jack stared at him. "Doctor, that Music is creation itself. What could disrupt it?'

The Doctor turned back to the cabinet. "I'm hoping Kit can tell us, if I can bring her around. Where did I put that ammonium carbonate?"

Rose moved next to Jack and asked, "Why'd she show up like this?"

The Doctor found the bottle he wanted. "You mean without clothes?" When Rose nodded, the Doctor said, "Remember how she changed? Rippling from the center outward? When she takes human form, she probably creates the vital internal systems first, and works her way out. I don't think she had time to finish before she crashed into the Cloisters. And that makes me think she _was_ thrown here." He opened the bottle. "Smelling salts. Jack, hold on to her so she doesn't jar her arm and leg."

Jack put one hand on Kit's covered shoulder, and put his other arm across her midriff to hold her still as the Doctor waved the bottle under her nose. She jerked as her eyes snapped open—

And she began to scream, struggling against Jack's hold. Madhukar cried out in empathy.

"Kit! Angel, it's all right. You're safe. I'm here. You found me." Jack was leaning over her ear, talking to her, but she didn't seem to hear him at all, still fighting against him.

_Rassilon!_ If she kept this up, she would hurt herself even more. He didn't want to sedate her; they needed her alert to help them figure out what was going on.

Normally he wouldn't do this without permission. But this was an emergency. He reached two fingers out to touch her temple—

And now he was the one screaming as something like a high-voltage electrical shock coursed through his body.

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	2. Chapter 2 The Colors of Noise

**Author's Notes:** Kit and Madhukar are mine; all else belongs to the BBC. Thanks to Aibhinn for help with this chapter and for musical pointers.

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**Chapter Two – The Colors of Noise**

Rose watched in horror as the Doctor flew backwards, thrown from Kit's side down to the floor. Kit continued struggling and screaming despite Jack holding her down and repeating apparently unheard reassurances in her ear.

"Doctor!" Rose rushed to his side. His eyes were wide and staring as he lay supine on the floor, and her heart contracted in fear. "Doctor? Can you hear me?" She put her ear to his chest and breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the rapid beating of his hearts. She looked up at his face as he took in a gulp of air and tried to sit up. "Let me help you," she said, moving to support him. "What happened?"

The Doctor shook his hand as if it had been burned. "Kit's mind has an impressive autonomic defense! I got thrown out just as I made contact. But I saw enough. I know what to do!" He reached into his jacket pocket and drew out his sonic screwdriver.

"Whatever it is, do it quick!" Jack called.

The Doctor twisted the screwdriver and pushed a button. The device made no noise, but there was an immediate effect. Madhukar and Kit both gasped, and she leaned against Jack and began sobbing helplessly, like a lost child.

"It's gone," Madhukar rasped, panting as if he'd run for miles. "The Song is gone!"

The Doctor nodded as Rose helped him to his feet. "I was able to identify the ultrasonic frequency of the Music. The sonic screwdriver is generating white noise on that frequency to block the discord that was causing you pain. Are you all right?"

Madhukar blew out a slow breath. "Yes. Yes. The silence is easier for me to bear than the discord. Better nothing than that. But what of the Ekala?"

They turned toward Jack and Kit. He was stroking her hair and face, murmuring to her soothingly as she shuddered and wept in wrenching sobs. "C'mon, Angel. Talk to me. You're safe. I won't let anything hurt you." He looked up at the Doctor. "She can't stop crying. I think she's terrified."

"Just like the TARDIS," the Doctor said. "I've got an idea. Rose, hand me the bone growth stimulator. The green thing on the table."

Rose picked up the device and brought it to the Doctor. "How will this help?" she asked.

"Two birds with one stone," he answered. "The stimulator uses ultrasound to mend broken bones, so we can heal her and generate a bit of additional ultrasonic noise to calm her down at the same time. Hold this right here," he said, positioning the device over Kit's broken arm and turning it on. "Just a bit of blue noise should help."

Rose wrinkled her brow. "Blue noise?"

"Noise comes in a spectrum of colors," he explained. "White noise has a flat frequency spectrum in linear space. Blue noise increases in power density and frequency. There's also pink noise, brown noise, red noise, violet noise and so on. The bone growth stimulator generates ultrasonic blue noise, and I think that should do the trick for now. Blue is soothing, you know. Madhukar, you should be able to hear this. Is it better?"

The Seeker closed his eyes. "Better, yes." He opened his eyes again and nodded toward Kit. "And it seems to be helping her as well."

She was getting calmer, her sobs turning to whimpers. Jack brushed her tears away. She took some deep breaths and focused on him. "Jack?"

He smiled softly at her. "Right here, Angel. You found me, just like you told me you would. You're in the TARDIS. You're safe."

"Safe…TARDIS…" she repeated vaguely. "But…I can't…I can't hear them." Her eyes were wide and frightened. "I can't hear them!"

"Who, Angel?"

"She can't hear her people, Jack, probably for the first time in her life," the Doctor said in a sympathetic voice.

His tone drew Rose's attention away from the stimulator, to the all-too-familiar expression on his face. He knew only too well what it was like to suddenly be cut off from one's people. _He can't get away from reminders of Gallifrey,_ she thought with a pang.

"I blocked out the discord, Kit," he went on in a gentle tone. "I know you're frightened, but we need you to help us fix this. Can you tell us what happened?"

Kit stared up at the ceiling for a moment before answering. "We….we've been closing the rifts between the worlds. Sealing up the last of the damage from the Time War. But something…something happened to the Music. All of a sudden, I couldn't hear the others any more. We could see each other, we could touch…but we couldn't hear."

"What difference would that make?" Rose asked.

To her surprise, Jack answered. "Choral singers have to be able to hear and tune to each other. Otherwise the harmony breaks down." He raised an eyebrow at the look she gave him. "Thought you knew I was more than just a pretty face, Rose!"

The Doctor steered the conversation back on topic. "Why couldn't you hear each other?"

"I don't know," Kit said, shaking her head. "It was as if…someone had thrown a switch, and there was nothing but noise."

"And then what?" Jack prompted.

Kit thought for a moment. "One of the others tossed me out of the Vortex and sent me here. I remember starting to change, and then hitting something. It's all black after that."

"And that's when I found you," Rose said. "The Doctor said you'd been thrown here." The device in her hand made a beeping sound and shut itself off. Kit and Madhukar both took in pained breaths at the sudden loss of blue noise.

"Automatic cutoff," the Doctor said. "Don't want to overgrow the bone once the break is fixed. Kit, try moving your arm."

Slowly, she raised her arm up off the bed, first flexing it and then turning her hand. "It's okay," she said, her voice trembling a bit.

The Doctor ran his hand along her arm, checking it over and then giving it a reassuring squeeze. "We'll get this all sorted. Jack, may I see your sonic blaster?" Jack handed him the weapon, and he made a few adjustments on it. "There. A white noise device for you, and one for Madhukar. Jack, use the stimulator to heal her leg. Then the dermal regenerator will take care of the scrapes and cuts. She's got some nasty ones on her back." He flashed her a grin, as if he was trying to lighten the mood. "You had to go and fall through the thorniest part of the Cloisters, didn't you?"

"Why do things the easy way?" Kit replied with a weak smile of her own.

"Now you're starting to sound like me!" he chuckled, picking up the sonic screwdriver along with a couple of bottles from the worktable. "Come on, Madhukar. I need your help for some jiggery-pokery. Rose? Need your help too."

Rose handed the stimulator over to Jack, who began to work on Kit's leg. She followed the Doctor and Madhukar out of the medical bay.

"Acarya, I'm no good at technical things," Madhukar was saying. "Shouldn't Jack be helping you?"

"Jack's right where he should be," the Doctor answered. "I need _you_ to lend me your ears." He grinned as Rose rolled her eyes. "Always wanted to say that."

* * *

Kit's weak smile fell away as Jack passed the stimulator over her leg. New tears were starting, and she was trembling again. The stress was taking its toll. That wouldn't help her recovery. He needed to calm her down. Tenderly, he skimmed one hand over her newly healed arm, softly humming a tune meant to soothe and reassure her.

The stimulator beeped and shut off. He exchanged it for the dermal regenerator, and began to work on the scrape on her cheek. Once it was healed, he kissed that spot and wiped her tears away again. "Let me take a look at your back, Angel."

He moved behind her as she sat up and let the coat slip down, pooling around her on the bed as she wrapped her arms about herself in front. He gasped in pained sympathy as he saw the angry red gashes running from the nape of her neck to the base of her spine. "I'm doing some serious pruning in the Cloisters once all this is over. And I think I'll have some words with the Doctor about his taste in landscaping." He restarted the regenerator, gently stroking her arm and humming again as the instrument mended the damage. After a moment, he asked, "Is this what you saw and couldn't tell me about before?"

She was quiet for a moment, and then said, "I'm not sure, Jack. I remember seeing us together, but outside of the Music the memory becomes hazy. There are gaps in my mind, and I can't see anything. I don't know what must be anymore." She sounded so timid and unsure, not at all like the brash and confident woman who'd tackled him at Torchwood so many months before.

"It's going to be all right, Angel," he consoled her as he finished healing the last of the cuts. Once her back was smooth and flawless again, he put the regenerator down and laid both hands on her shoulders, massaging them lightly. She was still shaking, but not as much as before. "All better. Those had to hurt."

"Not as much as the silence," she replied with a shuddering sigh. "I'm scared, Jack."

He pulled the coat back up around her and walked in front of her again. He framed her face with his hands and took a long look into her blue eyes. They were still brimming with tears, full of her shock and horror. His heart ached to see her that way. "Kit. Angel. It'll be all right," he told her again softly, and bent to kiss her.

It was meant to be a chaste kiss of comfort, but Kit quickly turned it to something more. She opened her mouth under his and wound her arms around his neck, pulling him closer and letting the coat fall once again.

It was as if all his fevered dreams of the past few months were coming true. Heaven in his arms, Kit's hands roaming through his hair, her tongue twining with his own, her legs wrapping around his waist to draw him in tightly against her as he moaned into her mouth, twisting one hand into her hair and running the other along her satiny bare back. She was warm and soft and pliant—

And frightened and traumatized and this was all _wrong_.

With a groan he pulled back, gently but firmly. "Kit, don't."

She let out a disappointed whimper of her own as he disengaged her legs, trying hard to ignore just how smooth and inviting her skin felt. He drew the coat back up to cover her again, his eyes never leaving hers.

"No one will ever believe I'm the one saying no. _I _don't believe it," he chuckled. That earned him a ghostly smile. He kissed her forehead and drew back to look into her eyes again. "Angel, I want to make love to you more than anything. But I want a lot more than just a post-traumatic roll in the hay. You mean more to me than that. And I think you feel the same way."

She blushed and shifted back a bit on the bed, pulling the coat around herself a little more securely. "Jack, you know I do. I'm sorry. When…when we take this form, we're a bit sensitive to adrenaline overload. It can set us off and make us react—inappropriately."

"Then you and I aren't all that different," he said, caressing her cheek and winding one dark curl around his finger. "Nice to see your halo is just a bit crooked."

"I don't have a halo, and you darned well know it," she replied, leaning a little into his caress.

His smile widened. "Well, you sure proved that just now. Who'd have thought an angel could be so sinful?" He wrapped his arms around her to hold her close again, sheltering her from the silence in an innocent, tender embrace.

A soft cough drew their attention to the doorway. Rose was standing there with an armful of clothes. "I thought you'd want to wear something besides Jack's coat."

Jack dropped a kiss on top of Kit's head before pulling back to look at her. "I dunno, Rose. I think she looks pretty good in it." Knowing Rose couldn't see it, he gave Kit a wink, and then went on, "Of course, I think she'd look even better out of it."

A twinkle of her old humor sparked in Kit's eyes, just as he'd hoped. _That's better._

Rose, however, i harrumphed /i in irritation. "Jack! Time and space are falling apart around us and you have to go and be…well, you? There's a time and a place, you know!" she scolded as she strode over to Kit. "Turn around and let her dress in private."

Jack grinned inwardly as he complied. _She sounds just like the Doctor. And her mother. Imagine that. Both of them would be proud and horrified at the same time._

He waited patiently, listening to the women speaking in soft murmurs, the rustle of fabric, the slide of a zip. After a few minutes, Kit called, "Jack, I'm decent now."

He turned to see her sliding off the bed to stand up—or to try to. She winced and sank to her knees as Rose tried to help her. "My leg's still a little weak," Kit said.

Jack lifted her in his arms. "I don't think you're quite ready to go _dancing _yet," he said, winking at her when Rose let out an exasperated sigh.

"Hopeless, you are," Rose said, picking his blaster up off the work table. "Come on."

She led them to the console room, where the Doctor handed Kit a cup as soon as Jack settled her into the captain's chair. "Whipped this up in the kitchen for you."

Kit took the cup with a dark look. "You're giving me tea? And lukewarm tea at that?"

"It's not tea," the Doctor corrected. "It's a restorative. Calcium, alendronate and calcitonin to strengthen those newly healed bones. Jack can't carry you around all the time," he shot Jack a teasing look, "no matter how much he might enjoy it. Drink up. Doctor's orders."

She took a sip and made a face. "Tea would have been better."

The Doctor snorted. "Now, I have this for you too." He turned to the console and picked up an earpiece. "Madhukar helped me tune this. It transmits white noise on its main channel, and a rotation of the other colors of noise on the subchannel. I'm running the same sequence in the TARDIS' systems, and it's made her a lot calmer."

"It can't replace the Song," Madhukar said, tapping on his own earpiece, "but it does help."

Kit took the earpiece and looked at it closely. "Very Seven of Nine, isn't it?"

Jack raised an eyebrow, not understanding the reference. Rose apparently got the joke, because she giggled, and the Doctor smiled too, saying, "Alonzo could have built something a little more elegant and a lot less visible, but I'm afraid he's still Humpty Dumpty. We haven't been able to get the parts to put him back together again."

"Ah, well. Resistance is futile," Kit said, hooking the earpiece on. "I have been assimilated." Rose laughed outright at that, and even though he didn't get the joke, Jack grinned to hear Kit sounding more like herself. She closed her eyes for a moment, and then smiled slightly. "You're right. It does help."

"Good. Now finish that," the Doctor said, pointing at her cup. When she scowled at him, he said, "Resistance is futile, remember? It's easier if you drink it fast."

Kit sighed and raised the cup to her lips, closing her eyes and screwing up her face in unpleasant anticipation before drinking it all down and shuddering. Jack patted her shoulder and went over to the console. "So where'd we end up?"

Madhukar moved next to him. "Nowhere, it seems. Nowhere, no place, no time."

Jack looked at him in surprise, and then over at the Doctor, who nodded and motioned for Madhukar to go on.

"The TARDIS isn't reporting any space-time coordinates," the Seeker continued.

"How's that even possible?" Rose asked.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at her. "Anything is possible, remember?"

"But wherever we are, it's improbable," Madhukar said. "I'd say this place doesn't exist, couldn't exist…except that we're here. We just don't know where 'here' is."

"Wherever it is, whenever it is, it did appear on the Web of Time as the source of the discord," the Doctor added.

"No space-time coordinates?" Kit queried, gingerly sliding off her seat and testing the strength of her leg. When it didn't buckle under her, she walked over to the console to look at the monitor. "Outside of space-time, but still inside the Music," she mused. She looked at the Doctor. "We're in a Mediary."

Jack rarely saw a blank look on the Doctor's face, but there was one there now. "What's a Mediary, Angel?" he asked.

"It's a space between the realities," she answered. "Mediaries are where we learn to sing."

"The Void is between the realities," the Doctor said, wrinkling his brow.

Kit shrugged a little. "Well, yes. The Void is between the realities and outside the Music. Mediaries are also between the realities, but they're inside the Music. That makes them perfect training grounds." She cocked her head at his expression. "Learning to manipulate reality is dangerous within space-time. So we use the Mediaries to copy realities, and then we learn within the copies."

"You copy realities?" Rose looked thoughtful. "Is that where parallel worlds come from?"

Kit nodded. "A few of them. Pete's World wasn't one of them, though, if that's what you're thinking. It's outside the Music."

"If we know the source of the trouble is here, then what are we waiting for?" Jack asked, taking his blaster back from Rose and resetting it. "We've got a universe to save. Again."

The Doctor looked over at Kit. "Are you ready for this?"

She nodded. "You bet."

Jack and the Doctor led the way out of the TARDIS, the women close behind them and Madhukar bringing up the rear.

They stepped out into a broad, flat desert. Only two things sprang from the ground: dry brown brush, and huge white radio telescopes pointing up at a clear blue sky.

"It's like that movie 'Contact,'" Rose said. "All these big dishes."

"Exactly like it," the Doctor said as they walked toward the closest of the telescopes. "This is a copy of the Very Large Array in New Mexico. But these telescopes aren't receiving signals. They're transmitting the discord in the Music." His voice became low. "I've seen something like this before. I've got a bad feeling about this."

"You always did worry too much," said an unfamiliar voice behind them. They turned, Jack holding his blaster at the ready until he saw the speaker…and the speaker's companions.

Sunlight glinted off metals of bronze and silver. A frighteningly familiar gunstalk was leveled at them from one side. An equally frightening, equally deadly silver arm pointed at them from the other. Standing between them and the safety of the TARDIS.

A Dalek and a Cyberman. But what transfixed the Doctor was the figure in between them. A man, dressed in black jeans and a black leather coat, wearing sunglasses to shield his eyes from the bright sunlight.

"You're dead," the Doctor said in a faint voice. "I watched you die. You can't be here. It's impossible."

The stranger laughed. "Haven't you learned that nothing is impossible, old _friend? _You saw me _disappear_. You didn't see me _die_. Because I didn't. Obviously." The man began to laugh. "Still careless after all these years."

"Who is this, Doctor?" Rose asked nervously, moving closer to the Doctor. Jack stepped in front of Kit, a protective gesture that wouldn't mean a damn if the Dalek or the Cyberman decided to use their weapons.

"I've told you about him before, Rose," the Doctor said. "A renegade Time Lord. A murderer. He likes to be called 'The Master.'"

"At your service," the Master said smoothly, with a mocking bow. He pulled his sunglasses off, revealing inhuman eyes glowing green. "Doctor, allow me to welcome you and your friends to Megiddo."


	3. Chapter 3 Doubt

Author's Notes: I hemmed and hawed over this chapter for a long, long time. Thanks to Aibhinn for being a great sounding board while I dithered. "Brilliant" doesn't begin to describe her!

This chapter refers to one of my previous stories, found on this site.

Kit and Madhukar are mine; all else belongs to the BBC.

* * *

**Chapter Three – Doubt**

"Doctor, what _is_ it about you that attracts smarmy guys and deadly weapons?" Kit wondered aloud.

A good question, but the Doctor was concerned with more serious ones. _What is he doing here? And with these two very deadly weapons?_

Two lifetimes ago, he'd seen the Master get sucked into the old Eye of Harmony, right in the Cloisters of the TARDIS. But now, here he was, still in the same body he'd stolen from a paramedic in 1999 San Francisco. The body that should have been crushed in the nucleus of a black hole. Different clothes, though; the Master had been wearing Time Lord robes when he went through the Eye.

His mind was wandering. He pulled it back on track with another serious question. _How is this happening? _He pondered briefly, then dismissed the thought. Never mind the how. The real question was _what_ his old "friend" was up to. "Megiddo?" he asked in a pleasant voice. "Interesting name."

"What's Megiddo?" Rose asked in a low tone.

"It's the origin of the word 'armageddon,'" Jack answered. "The end of the world."

"A soldier and a scholar! The Doctor's taste in companions is improving." The Master crossed slowly in front of Jack and leered at Kit, making Jack bristle. "Improving a great deal. But I'm afraid I can't allow you to play soldier here." He held his hand out for Jack's blaster. After a quick glance at the Doctor, Jack surrendered the weapon. The Master took it and tucked it away inside his jacket. Then he held his hand out to the Doctor. "I need your little toy as well."

"Megiddo," the Doctor repeated, taking the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and handing it over. "Strange choice. I thought you wanted to rule the universe, not end it."

"The end of the Song _is_ the end of the universe," Madhukar said.

The Master chuckled. Still the same low laugh that had nothing to do with humor. "Do you think so? But we're all still here, aren't we? Makes you wonder. As to the name, Doctor, my business associate came up with it. Seemed to find it amusing."

"I've never known Daleks or Cybermen to find anything amusing," the Doctor said. "I've never known them to be anyone's business associates, either. Nor have I ever known them to just stand there so quietly." He walked toward the Dalek, trying to ignore the sudden, frightened intake of breath from both Rose and Jack as he bent down to look it in the eyestalk. "You can't tell me he hasn't told you who I am. The Doctor? Ka Faraq Gatri? The Oncoming Storm?"

The Dalek didn't respond.

"Oh, come on! Not even one 'exterminate?' For old time's sake?" He straightened up and walked over to the Cyberman. "And what about you, Tin Man? I'm the one who sent all of you to hell. Nothing to say? Has 'delete' been deleted from your programming?"

The Cyberman kept its weapon arm raised, but made no sound.

"You sound miffed," the Master observed. "Disappointed that they aren't trembling in fear before you?"

"Hardly. I leave the egomania to you," the Doctor said coolly. "I am surprised, though. Especially by the Dalek. The last time they saw you, they exterminated you. Now you have one as a bodyguard? I'm sure there's quite a story behind that. Oh, and I still want to know how you got around the fact that extermination is supposed to be permanent, even for a Time Lord."

Another dark, low laugh. "We have a great many things to discuss, Doctor."

"Including your trick for taming Cybermen and Daleks," the Doctor replied.

"In due time. I understand you have some interesting stories to tell as well. Shall we get out of the heat?" The Master smiled and offered Rose his arm. "Lady Rose?"

Rose gripped the Doctor's arm instead, regarding the Master warily. "How d'you know my name?"

"Tremas of Traken knew you as the Lady Rose," the Doctor told her. He narrowed his eyes as he regarded the Master. "I thought his mind was destroyed when you stole his body."

"Mistaken as usual, Doctor." The Master tapped his forehead. "He lives on, right here. Tremas' knowledge has been quite useful over the years."

The Doctor tried not to betray the horror he felt. "You mean you still have his consciousness in your mind?"

"Oh, yes. He's gone quite mad, I'm afraid. He never understood that I was doing him a favor, preserving all that fine scientific knowledge."

"Oh, my God, you're a monster," Rose hissed, tightening her grip on the Doctor's arm.

"Oh, cut me to the quick," the Master said in a mocking tone. He gestured toward a two-story building between the telescopes. "Shall we adjourn to the control center?"

_Resistance is futile_, the Doctor thought, catching Jack's eye and giving him a barely perceptible nod. They followed the Master across the dry ground, trailed by his _associates_. "Radio telescopes again?" the Doctor asked conversationally as they approached the building. "Whatever you're doing, you know I'll stop you, just like I did before." _Although stopping him before cost me a regeneration. _"These schemes of yours never succeed."

"They would if it wasn't for you and those meddling kids," the Master countered as they reached the door. He turned and looked at them expectantly, then said, "Oh, come now! Surely somebody here got the Scooby Doo joke?"

Kit snorted. "Sorry, broke my funnybone. How would a Gallifreyan know about Scooby Doo, anyway?"

"Oh, Tremas has company. Bruce's knowledge isn't quite as useful, but it _is _amusing," the Master said. He opened the door and ushered them in past several offices and a staircase. He led them into a large room with an oval table in the center. The table was surrounded by rolling leather chairs. Computer banks lined one wall, and some cubicles took up one corner. The Dalek and Cyberman took positions on either side of the door.

The Doctor took in the details of the room while mulling the Master's words over. _Bruce. The paramedic._ Another trapped consciousness, also probably driven insane. Not only was the Master a maniac himself, he had the Mad Hatter's tea party going on inside his head. That made him even less predictable.

"Please, make yourselves comfortable," the Master said, walking over to a refrigerator across the room. He opened a cabinet next to it and took out a stack of plastic cups, then pulled a champagne bottle from the refrigerator. He turned back to the group, all of whom had silently decided they'd prefer to stand.

"I know plastic is uncouth for champagne, but we'll make do with what we have." He put the cups down on the table, uncorked the champagne and poured a cup for each of them. "A toast, old friend," he said, holding a cup to the Doctor, who took it warily. "Please, all of you. I assure you, it's not poisoned." He took a sip from his own cup to prove it. "See? Now, as I was saying…a toast. To the Doctor. You know, no one ever considered you most likely to succeed at anything back at the good old Prydonian Academy. In fact, everyone despaired of your ever passing." He shook his head in mock sorrow. "What you put your poor father through! And then when you did scrape by, what did you do? Stole a TARDIS to gallivant across space and time, sticking your nose into anything and everything, making messes and then running off without ever looking back to count the casualties. Not only that, but then you had the audacity to drag your granddaughter along, putting her into danger time and time again. And _then_ you decided she wasn't enough! You needed to bring others along to fawn on you, to worship you like some kind of a god. To become addicted to you and the life you lead. You show them the marvels of the universe and then when you're done with them, you leave them to their own little, ordinary, _ruined_ lives."

"Is this a toast or a speech?" Rose asked sharply.

"Oh, have I struck a little too close to home?" The Master smirked. "You know what I'm talking about. The Doctor needs his groupies as much as they need him. It's a sad case of co-dependency."

"You can knock off the pop psychology," Jack growled.

A knowing laugh. "The truth hurts, doesn't it?" The Master's voice dropped low. "Does it hurt as much as knowing he didn't want you as much as you wanted him?" He sneered at Jack's icy blue glare, and then turned back toward the Doctor. "Now, I know I've made mistakes in the past. But nothing I ever did could compare to what you managed! You wiped entire worlds out of space-time! Gallifrey? The Daleks? And all the collateral damage? Your little fan club here doesn't know the half of it! The species who were left homeless were the lucky ones. A stunning solution, Doctor. Destroy the village in order to save it. Kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out!"

"There was no other solution," the Doctor gritted out. "You don't think Romana tried? You think I didn't try? It's easy for you to criticize. You weren't there."

"No, I wasn't there. Neither was anyone else in this room, except for you. We only have your word for it. The word of a man who not only broke every rule the Time Lords ever wrote, but who reveled in the breaking of them."

_You're no better_, the Doctor took a breath to say…but he was interrupted by his student.

"You have told me many times about breaking those laws," Madhukar said slowly. "And you seemed to find the stories amusing, Acarya."

The Master's head snapped around so he could stare at the Seeker. "Acarya? The Chattrakan word for 'honored teacher?'" He snorted. "And you call _me_ an egomaniac! But then, it's a role that suits you, isn't it? You do love to flaunt your knowledge. Never mind that the gaps in it are miles wide. You just let everyone believe that you know the answers to everything. But you don't. You make it up as you go along! Careless." He stood nose to nose with the Doctor. "And when you get careless, worlds and people die. Even your groupies aren't safe!" He stepped back and fixed each of them in turn with a penetrating stare. "Rose's hands are awash in Dalek blood. Your soldier here isn't a choirboy. And even the little angel isn't an innocent, no more than her people who stand back and do nothing in the face of suffering and death in the name of what must be. Surprised? Yes, I know who and what all of you are." He turned his gaze to Madhukar. "Tell me, Seeker, do you believe that suffering must be? How long do you think it will be before you're corrupted? Or killed?"

"You're not buying any of this, are you, Madhukar?" Kit asked in a low voice.

The Seeker looked over at her. "You told me yourself that my people don't have it all right about your people. How wrong were we?" He shook his head. "The Song has been my guide for so long. I don't know what to believe."

The Master walked over to Madhukar and put his hands on the man's thin shoulders. He looked intently into Madhukar's eyes. "You can believe in me," he said.

"He's a killer, Madhukar," the Doctor said in a warning tone.

Madhukar turned to him with sorrow in his eyes. "So are you, Doctor."


	4. Chapter 4 The Voice of Evil

Author's Notes: Not "Torchwood" compliant. Kit and Madhukar are mine; all else belongs to the BBC. Pronunciation note: "Mediary" is pronounced MEE-dee-AIR-ee.

* * *

_"So are you, Doctor."_

Just four words, yet Rose could tell they hurt. The Doctor looked like he'd just been on the receiving end of a Jackie Tyler slap, stung and stunned at the same time.

She wanted to give one of those slaps to the Master, to wipe that smug look off his lying face. He'd twisted the truth just enough to plant a seed of doubt in Madhukar, and to awaken the self-doubt that so often lurked beneath the Doctor's bravado.

She knew his doubts only too well, his worry that he could never live up to Romana's expectations for rebuilding the Time Lords. Since their reunion, he'd become so much better at sharing his feelings, and he no longer held back from telling her his fears. _I don't know what Romana was thinking when she left this to me, _he'd told her once, after a planned "field trip" got cocked up and ended with all of them running for their lives yet again. The look in his eyes when he'd said those words…it was there now. She'd kissed it away then, but she couldn't do that this time. Not with the Master watching.

And worse, the Master had poured salt on the never-healing wound that was Gallifrey. It infuriated her, but she tried not to let it show. She didn't want the Master using those emotions against her or the Doctor.

She glanced over at the others. Jack's jaw was tightly clenched. He also knew just how deeply the Master had managed to cut the Doctor. Kit's hands were fisted so hard that her nails probably could have drawn blood.

And Madhukar…Madhukar looked completely lost. The Master tutted at him. "I know you're confused." He slid one arm around Madhukar's shoulders. "Let's take a walk, shall we? I'd like to pay my respects to the Doctor's other lady."

Rose's gaze flicked over to the Doctor again. She saw fury flash in his eyes at the thought of the Master setting foot in his TARDIS. She looked back at the Master, who appeared even more pleased with himself as he went on, "And while we visit the TARDIS, you can tell me just what you've been learning from my old friend." He started to walk Madhukar back out of the room, then stopped in front of his so-far silent sentinels. "What's the status of the project upstairs?"

"Eighty-eight point four five percent completion," the Cyberman responded.

"Hmm. Not as far as I was hoping. Go help them. We need to speed things up," the Master said. The Cyberman turned and stomped up the stairs, as the Master shifted his attention back to his captives. "Do make yourselves comfortable, and please enjoy the champagne. I'm quite sure you could use a drink now, Doctor," he said with a sly smile. "Oh, and don't touch the computers. You don't want to upset the Dalek." Another chuckle, and he escorted Madhukar out.

With the Master gone, Rose let out her frustration, hurling her cup of champagne against the wall. Jack slammed a fist down on the table, and Kit let out a half-sigh, half-growl. The Doctor was the only one remaining under tight control. Rose went to him and laid a hand on his shoulder, feeling the tautness under his jacket. "You know he's wrong," she said softly.

"He got enough of it right," the Doctor said bitterly. He sighed and scrubbed his hands over his face. "Out of all my people, it had to be him who survived the Time War."

"The perversity of the universe tends toward a maximum," Kit observed dryly, sitting in one of the chairs around the table.

"He knows his tactics," Jack added, perching on the table next to her. "First, divide and conquer. Then, know your enemy. He sure knew how to press all the right buttons for you, Doctor. What buttons do we press for him?"

"He's a sociopath, Jack. He wants three things. To rule the universe, to take my TARDIS and to kill me," the Doctor answered, holding up a finger for each point. He considered his hand a moment, and went on, "No, make that four things. He wants to take over my body, too. And get all my remaining regenerations. So make it five…six…seven things he wants, if you count each regeneration separately." He stood with seven fingers held up in front of him. Rose took his hands to give them a reassuring squeeze, which he returned.

"And now he's on his way to collect one part of his wish list, with Madhukar's help," Jack said.

"Wouldn't the TARDIS just chuck him out?" Rose asked, still holding onto the Doctor's hands.

He shook his head. "I don't know, Rose. He got aboard her before, when I regenerated for the seventh time. I've never figured out why she allowed it then."

Rose thought a moment. "The TARDIS did go off-kilter when you regenerated this last time. Maybe it happened then too?"

"Possibly. Probably," the Doctor corrected himself. He released Rose's hands and began to pace, rubbing the back of his neck. "That was one of my worst regenerations; even worse than the one you saw. I almost didn't survive that time. With our link disrupted, she was vulnerable. Just like she is now."

"Even if the Master does get aboard the TARDIS," Kit said, "he's not going to get far. The Music and the Web of Time are still completely distorted. She's not going anywhere unless he restores them. And if he does," she leaned back in her chair and began to swivel it slightly from side to side, grinning wolfishly, "he'll have me to deal with. With a whole mediary at my disposal."

Jack caught her chair to stop it. "Careful, Angel," he warned, inclining his head toward the Dalek. "Little pepperpots have big auditory sensors."

"And normally they have very loud voices," Rose added, looking over at it. "This one still isn't making a sound. It's creepy."

"It's under orders," the Doctor said. "Someone told it to remain silent. But I'm still having trouble believing a Dalek would take an order from the Master. They'd trust him even less than they'd trust me."

"You said they'd exterminated him?" Rose asked.

"Years ago," the Doctor answered. "I don't understand how he managed to cheat his way out of that, nor how he managed to escape after passing through the old Eye of Harmony. But that's not what really troubles me. What I really don't understand is how he's managed to set up shop here, in an angel's training ground." He started walking around the table. The Dalek's eyestalk tracked his every step, but the creature still made no sound. The Doctor continued, "We're missing a piece of the puzzle here. Something that would tie it all together. The Master couldn't possibly have manipulated reality on his own to build all this." Keeping one eye on the Dalek, he wandered over to a lateral file cabinet lined with framed photos. He picked up a black ball sitting amongst the pictures. "Especially not with this kind of detail. Could he have just stumbled into this? Kit?" He tossed the ball to her.

She caught it and turned it in her hand, studying it. "Reply hazy, ask again later. Figures." She showed the ball to Jack and then tossed it to Rose, who could now see it was a Magic Eight Ball toy. Kit went on, "I don't know, Doctor. Without the Music, I can't see any more than you can. You'd get better answers out of that Eight Ball. But his just falling into a place that he could use like this would be one hell of a coincidence."

"I thought you said there was no such thing as coincidence?" Rose asked, remembering what Kit had said the very first time they'd met.

"Yeah. But then, I also used to think nothing could disrupt the Music," the other woman replied. "All bets are off, Rose."

"Even if it was a coincidence, why would any of your people copy this?" Jack wanted to know.

Kit shrugged. "This _is_ a training ground. The best way to teach anything is to use something the student is interested in. Somebody was interested in radio telescopes. From the detail, I'd say it was somebody very skilled. Powerful," she said, looking around. "If I could hear the Music, if I could _see_ I'd know where this came from. But without it…I don't know. I do know _I'm_ not this good yet."

"I don't see how Madhukar could believe anything the Master told him, and then just take him to the TARDIS," Rose said. "After all the time he's been with us, how could this happen?"

"Ah, now that's one thing I think I do understand," the Doctor told her, leaning against the file cabinet. "Just before all this started, he was telling me he was troubled about the Laws of Time and the way I don't seem to follow them. We'd barely started talking about it when the discord started. I think losing the Music put him out of sorts, scrambled his brain a bit and left him susceptible. And the Master has a particular talent for persuasion. He's very good at getting into people's heads."

A sudden thought struck Rose. "Like you got into Kit's earlier?" she asked with a significantly raised eyebrow.

"Aha!" Kit said with a smile, swiveling her chair a quarter-turn toward Rose. "I like where you're going with this."

"We still have the pepperpot and the tin man to deal with, and no weapons," Jack reminded them quietly.

The Doctor nodded. "Probably tin _men_," he said, pushing off from the cabinet and circling around the table again to stand before Jack and Kit. "The Master did tell that Cyberman to go help _'them'_ with a project."

"Whatever that meant," Jack said darkly.

"Right," the Doctor said. "But, still, it is a good idea, Rose."

"So," Jack said, "we know we're dealing with a sociopathic renegade Time Lord, who's figured out a way to send some kind of signal to mess up the Vortex. We know he's hooked up with at least one Dalek and an undetermined number of Cybermen. We know his goals are the Doctor's death and universal domination. That should put him at odds with both the Daleks and the Cybermen. But instead, they seem to be following his orders."

"Talk about an Axis of Evil," Rose murmured.

"I was thinking Legion of Doom," Kit quipped. She looked a little sheepish as the others looked at her. "Sorry. Couldn't resist."

One side of the Doctor's mouth quirked up in a smile. "Don't apologize. If you couldn't make a joke in the face of danger, I'd know we were in real trouble. Now, tell me a little more about mediaries."

Kit considered for a moment, as if she was searching for the right words. "Well…they're places of matter and energy," she answered slowly. "Each Singer uses the power of the Music to sing the matter into whatever form he or she wants."

"Like maybe a baseball stadium?" Jack asked with a slight smile of his own. She blushed.

"Or an amusement park?" the Doctor added, his smile becoming whole-hearted now.

"Or a movie theater," Kit admitted with a laugh. "Yes. You two know me too well."

"Not nearly as well as I'd like," Jack said in a suggestive voice, leaning down closer to her.

Now it was Rose's turn to smile. _If Jack couldn't flirt in the face of danger, then **I'd** know we were in real trouble._ It might just be whistling in the dark, but it was still comforting.

The Doctor asked, "Is there any way you can do anything here without the Music?"

Kit sighed and shook her head. "No. We're a choir. Like Jack said before, I need to hear the others to tune to them. Even when I closed the walls around Pete's World, I was still in harmony with the others. I can't control realities on my own. It'd be like one soprano trying to re-create the whole of Handel's _Messiah_."

"Now, that's not exactly the truth, is it?" asked a voice behind them.

Rose's blood ran cold. _I know that voice,_ she thought, moving closer to the Doctor as they turned to face the speaker, who was walking down the stairs. "You're dead," she said. "I killed you."

The face of Toby Zed grinned back at her, but the voice was one that had haunted her nightmares for months. The voice that had predicted her death in battle.

The voice of the Beast.

"You thought you sent me to Hell," he corrected as he reached the bottom of the stairs. "Right back to my own domain. Foolish child. You thought you'd won the battle. But I will win the war."


	5. Chapter 5 Despair

**Author's Notes**: Apologies for the long, long delay in this update! Found myself putting the cart before the horse due to a recalcitrant character! But the next installments are outlined, and I've done some writing ahead as well, so the rest shouldn't take quite so long. As always, Kit and Madhukar are mine; all else belongs to the BBC.

* * *

"You know, running into people who are supposed to be dead is getting old," Jack said, sliding off the table into what the Doctor recognized as a deceptively casual defensive stance. 

"He said he'd never die," Rose said nervously. "He said nothing could destroy him. Not even a black hole could—"

"Easy, Rose." The Doctor stepped forward, looking Toby up and down. _Toby? Toby's body, at any rate, so Toby it is._ "Now I understand 'Megiddo.' Can't say I see the humor in it, though," he said, keeping his voice calmer than he felt._'We beat it. That's good enough for me.' What a damned fool I was. 'Good enough' never is_. "Jack, now you can tell people you've met the devil himself. At least, that's who he says he is."

The Dalek suddenly, finally, broke its silence. "He is God! You will worship him or be exterminated!"

"What, again?" Jack commented dryly.

"You've found yourself a new god?" the Doctor asked in a surprised tone. "You Daleks are fickle!" Then he gasped and pointed at the Dalek with both hands. "Oh, _wait!_ Wait wait wait wait wait! Not a _new_ god. You think you've found an _old_ god! The Kaled god of war!" He rushed up to the Dalek to look it in the eyestalk. "He's taken advantage of the last shreds of your racial memory, and set himself up to be worshipped!" He straightened up to look at Toby. "Instead of an army of Ood, you have an army of Daleks just waiting in hell! Not to mention the Cybermen! Tell me, how'd you work that out? Cybermen don't have a god or devil."

"Cybermen also didn't have a concept of hell, until you sent them into the Void," Toby answered in that deep, coldly intelligent voice as he slowly walked over to the Dalek. "They do now, and I am their savior who will give them a world in their own image."

The Doctor let out a wild little laugh. "So I sent them all to wait for you! I thought I'd been so clever! But nothing's ever that easy, is it?" His smile vanished and his voice became deadly soft. "I'll just have to try a bit harder this time."

Toby caressed the Dalek's dome. "Ignore this one, my disciple," he said. "We already have plans for him. Soon I will free you and your brethren to rampage across the worlds."

"We will exterminate all unbelievers! The universe will be purged!" the Dalek proclaimed.

"Daleks with a religious fixation," the Doctor scoffed. "Old news. Seen it before. Beat it before. If you're Lucifer or Satan or whatever you want to call yourself, surely you can come up with something a bit more original?"

"You still don't believe? Yet you accept the existence of angels," Toby said, pointing to where Kit was sitting.

"I accept that Kit's people are the basis for the _legends_ of angels," the Doctor answered. "But I've been the basis of a legend or two myself, so I know better than to put too much stock into them. _You_ claim to be from before time. That's impossible."

Kit's quiet, serious voice came from behind him. "Doctor, _nothing_ is impossible."

He swung round to look at her as she rose from her chair, and felt a chill when he saw her eyes. They were cold and stony, with no trace of her usual impudence. No jokes in the face of danger this time. _Now I know we're in trouble._

Apparently Rose knew it too. Her voice shook as she asked, "What do you mean? He isn't…he can't be the real devil!"

"Some legends must be believed, Rose," Kit answered, still in that quiet tone. "And sometimes, even the Father of Lies can speak the truth."

"And sometimes lies can come from the lips of an angel," Toby countered with a sneer. He looked at Jack. "You know she's lied to you before. She just lied to you a moment ago. How do you know she tells the truth when she's in your arms?"

"I _know_," Jack growled.

"Leave him out of this!" Kit snapped.

Toby smiled like a man with a secret as he looked back at her. "Tell me, young one, do the lies come easier now that you've fallen?"

She ignored the snide question. "I knew someone powerful was behind this," she said, looking around the room. "Only someone from the First Circle could copy a reality this precisely. And only you could still use the power of the Vortex without the Music."

"Another lie, young one? Avoiding the issue doesn't make it go away," Toby said. He jerked his head over toward Jack. "Is he worth the consequences of your fall?" Slowly, he circled around Kit, watching her. "Do you understand the cost of your lust? _'The angels that kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.'_" He stopped and stood looming in front of her. "The wages of sin is death. You know I speak the truth."

She snorted. "You really can quote Scripture to suit your own purposes! My choice to leave the Circles is not the same as your decision to try to rule them and dictate the Music."

"Circles…" the Doctor said slowly. "He's from the First Circle?"

Toby looked pleased. "You begin to understand, don't you? Maybe even to believe?"

"Understand what, Doctor?" Rose asked.

He looked over at her. "Some legends of angels say they're organized in hierarchies. Sometimes they're called Spheres."

"Or Circles," Jack concluded with wide eyes.

Rose looked stunned herself. "Kit, does that mean that he—that the devil is one of _your_ people?"

"What's legend to some is history to others," Kit replied. "Your legend of the devil's fall is my history."

"But we were speaking of _your_ fall, young one," Toby said. "It is amusing. The coddled little Third Circle brat, so pampered and spoiled, but in the end, falling to lust."

Kit's eyes narrowed. "There's a difference between lust and love," she said icily. "Although the difference is lost on someone who's not capable of either."

"Do you want to see how _capable_ I am?" Toby grabbed her shoulders roughly and pulled her up against him, forcing her up on her toes, their faces bare inches apart. Jack started to move toward them, but she put up one hand in a quelling motion. Jack froze while she and Toby locked eyes for a long moment. Then he said, "No. I have other plans for you, young one. Later." He pushed her away, and she stumbled back into Jack's arms. Jack helped her get her footing again, and stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders.

"A man of many plans," the Doctor mused, leaning back against the table. "Say I accept that you are indeed the truth behind the myth. See, I know that Kit doesn't lie about this sort of thing." He pointed a scolding finger at Toby. "And don't think I'm going to let you get away with calling her a liar, either!"

"But she does lie when she says she cannot do anything without the Music," Toby said, looking at Kit and ignoring Jack. "And she knows it. The raw power is there. The Music just gives it a certain order. You want to stop all of this, young one? Just reach out and take the power! I can show you how," he said in a whisper, holding her eyes again. "Of course, you're Third Circle, so it will cost you your life. Are they worth it?" He chuckled when she looked down. "Apparently not! You're afraid!" he said in an accusing tone.

"Leave her alone!" Jack said harshly, stepping around her to stand over Toby and glare challengingly at him.

Although Jack stood a few inches taller than Toby, the other man didn't back down. Instead, Toby looked amused. "Or you'll do what, exactly?"

"Stay calm, Jack. He's trying to play us all," the Doctor said as he pushed away from the table and walked toward them. He put a hand on Kit's shoulder. "No self-sacrifice, Kit, do you hear me? We all know what we're worth to you. Don't let him goad you." He looked at Toby. "I wanted to ask you something, Toby…Toby…hmm…Kit, what do your people call him?"

"We don't speak his name," she said coldly.

"I'll stick with Toby, then. Now, what was it I wanted to ask?" He thought for a moment. "Oh yes. If I accept that you are who you say you are, then tell me this." He began pacing. "Explain this to me. Compared to you, the Master is a small-time maniac. Why take him as a business associate? What could he _possibly_ do for someone who can manipulate reality to suit himself?" He waved his hand to indicate the Dalek. "You have a pair of armies, so what do you need him for? It's a puzzlement!" He threw up his hands, then paused and glanced over at Rose. "I'm quoting musicals again, aren't I?"

"_The King and I,"_ Rose answered. The Doctor was pleased to see a ghostly smile appearing on her face, and on Kit's, too. Jack gave him a barely perceptible nod of approval.

"Still...the Master. Why do you need him?" the Doctor asked again. He crossed his arms and gazed upwards pensively for a moment, then opened his mouth and widened his eyes as an idea struck him. "Oh, I see! You need him for the same reason Kit needed me to re-create the Eye of Harmony! Your people can't create power sources to amplify or disrupt the Music! But he could help you by using the tools you copied and create a signal to bottle the Singers up. Then you could run rampant without being stopped by them. But what does he get in return?"

"Exactly what I've been wanting for a very long time." The Master strode back into the room, followed by Madhukar.

The Doctor's heart sank as he saw his student's eyes. The pupils were dilated, with only a tiny ring of green surrounding them. _Just like Grace,_ he thought despairingly.

"The TARDIS looks beautiful inside," the Master said. "Love what you've done with her. The outside…well, I'll have that chameleon circuit fixed in no time." He smiled slyly at the Doctor's glare. "So, did you all have a nice chat while we were gone?"

"What have you done to Madhukar?" Rose demanded.

The Master reached out and brushed the back of his fingers against Madhukar's cheek. "Just made him see things my way," he answered. He dropped his hand and sauntered toward Rose. "I think the human term for it is 'possession.'" His gaze wandered over Rose's body, and then he threw a knowing glance over at the Doctor. "This one is even sweeter than the one you were with the last time we met, Doctor. What was her name? Grace?" He looked back at Rose. "I possessed her, too, you know. Let me show you how it's done, my dear." He grabbed Rose's upper arm with one hand and put the other hand at the back of her neck, pulling her towards him and inclining his mouth toward hers.

"NO!" Toby ordered. The Master stopped, and with a dark look released her. Toby went on, "That one is mine. You can have him." He pointed at Jack.

The Master looked Jack over. "Not really my type..."

"Neither are you. And I don't say that about too many people," Jack shot back.

They were interrupted by clanking steps on the staircase. "The project is complete," announced the metallic voice of the Cyberman that came partway down the stairs.

"Excellent!" the Master said. He looked over at Toby. "Would you like to see the fruits of their labor?"

Toby shook his head. "This is your moment. I will assemble the armies. Meet me on the platform."

The Master gave a single nod and looked at the Doctor's group. "If you will all please follow the nice Cyberman up?" He drew Jack's blaster out with one hand, and made an _after you_ gesture with the other.

Warily, the Doctor mounted the stairs. He glanced back to see that Jack was keeping the women between them as they ascended, and that Madhukar was walking up next to the Master. He could hear Toby giving orders to the Dalek.

"Go tell your brethren to gather on the plain of Megiddo," Toby said. "Your time is at hand."

"I obey," the Dalek answered. The Doctor could hear the whir of the Dalek moving away as he reached the top of the stairs.

The Cyberman stood next to an open door. "You will enter," the Cyberman instructed.

The Doctor stepped though the doorway, into a room with three other Cybermen waiting inside. They stood beside a control panel. A long metallic slab stood upright in the center of the room. It had shackles arranged near its top, on either side of its center, and at its bottom. Beside it stood a small table holding a silver sphere. Above it hung a lethal collection of drills and blades. Lethal, and familiar. Rose apparently recognized it too, because she gasped and held on to his arm.

"So that's your great plan?" the Doctor asked mildly. "Turn us all into Cybermen?" He heard Jack take in a shocked breath behind him.

The Master walked in and looked around the room, nodding in satisfaction. He led Madhukar over to the control panel, and answered, "No, not all of you, Doctor. Just you. And you won't exactly be a Cyberman." He strolled back towards the Doctor. "You see, if I just take your body the way I did with Tremas and Bruce, your consciousness will survive. But I don't trust you to share my mind. Still, as the American saying goes, a mind is a terrible thing to waste. Especially when it's as brilliant as yours. A Cyber upgrade would preserve your mind, but regular Cyber conversion wrecks the body. That would defeat the purpose! So we came up with this: a system customized to keep your body alive without having to regenerate, and to move your brain into this." He moved to the table with the sphere and caressed it.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you forgetting something? That host brain you're using now is decaying."

"Ah, but that's the beauty of it!" the Master said with a dark smile. "Your half-human body can support this host brain. Your mind will remain here in this little ball for eternity, and you will feel the pain of it all. No emotion or pain suppressors for you, Doctor. I want you to know everything that happens. To feel every stab, every slash, and then the phantom pains of your missing body."

"You _are_ a monster!" Rose snarled, releasing the Doctor's arm to lunge toward the Master.

The Doctor and Jack both reached out to grab her and pull her back. "No, Rose! They'll kill you!" the Doctor snapped, and wrapped his arms around her. "Wait for better odds," he said quietly into her ear.

The Master laughed. "Very touching. This is as good as it gets, old friend. Say your goodbyes. But don't look so sad, my dear. His body will remain, with a much more _inventive_ occupant," he added with a leer.

"Try anything and I'll make sure you regenerate!" Rose warned.

Her defiance made the Doctor want to cheer. He gave her a little squeeze for reassurance, and glared over at the Master. "Don't underestimate my friends," he said. "We're not dead yet."

"In just a matter of minutes, you'll be as good as dead," the Master said. "But as amusing as it would be to hear you beg for your life, Doctor, this butchery is beneath a Time Lord. And I have an appointment elsewhere." He looked over at Madhukar. "You know what needs to be done, my student. I leave Phase One to you. I will return shortly for Phase Two."

"Yes, Master," Madhukar replied in a dull tone. Dull, but it cut the Doctor like a knife.

The Master strode over and yanked Rose away from the Doctor. "Come. Time for us to review the armies of hell." He pushed her toward Jack and Kit, and once again aimed Jack's blaster at them to herd them toward the door.

Two of the Cybermen moved toward the Doctor, grasping his arms and forcing him back against the conversion table. The clamps snapped into place around his neck, wrists and ankles.

"Doctor!" Rose's eyes were wide and anguished, locked on his as the table began to tilt back slowly.

"Don't give up, Rose! We're not dead yet!" the Doctor called as the Master forced his companions from the room, the door slamming behind them. He stared straight ahead at the top half of the dingy wall, then the speckled tile of the ceiling, and finally at the deadly gleam of the conversion assembly as the table finished its ninety-degree tilt and locked into place.

"Couldn't I just take some paracetemol and call you in the morning?"


	6. Chapter 6 The Color of Wrath

**Author's Notes:** Not Torchwood compliant. As always, Kit and Madhukar are mine; all else belongs to the BBC.

* * *

**Chapter Six – The Color of Wrath**

The slam of the door behind them was like a shot through Rose's heart. They weren't dead yet, but they had no weapons, no plan, and from what she could see, no way out.

"Downstairs," instructed the Master, motioning with Jack's blaster.

"I'm not leaving him!" Rose protested.

The Master stood over her. "You cannot do anything for him," he said coldly. "Downstairs. Now."

Rose looked over at Jack, who gave her a curt nod. Kit's expression was bleak. _Resistance is still futile,_ Rose thought. She glared at the Master, and then turned on her heel to head down the stairs with Jack and Kit behind her. They were followed by the Master and the Cyberman who'd been standing guard outside the conversion room.

They'd just reached the bottom of the stairs when a whining sound from the room upstairs made them look back. The Master's eyes gleamed with dark humor. "All is on schedule. The conversion system is starting to power up. How long until it reaches full capacity?" he asked the Cyberman.

"Eight point two-five minutes," the Cyberman responded.

"Good! Very good." He turned away from the Cyberman and gestured toward the corridor leading outside. "After you," he told Rose. When she hesitated, he continued, "Unless you really want to listen to him scream?" He moved closer to her. "I'm trying to be kind. I still hope to convince my associate to forget his own plans for you and give you to me."

"I'll take the devil I know," Rose retorted.

His expression hardened and he gave her a shove toward the exit. Jack caught her by the arm and kept her from falling. Quietly, he murmured, "Let's get out of this death trap first."

Kit laid a hand on Rose's other arm. "Nothing's impossible, and a few minutes can change everything," she said very softly. "The Doctor's counting on us. On _you_. Let's not let him down."

_There's almost no time,_ Rose thought, forcing down her panic. _But we have to stop the armies first. It's what the Doctor would want._ She nodded fractionally and walked out of the building, flanked by her friends. The Master and the Cyberman followed them out, and the Master pointed across the arid ground toward a tall, narrow tower of metal beams. "Over there," he said.

Rose set a quick pace over to the structure. _The sooner we see what they're doing the sooner we can stop it,_ she thought as she jogged up the metal stairs.

One, two, three flights of stairs. She felt just a bit winded as they reached the platform at the top. Toby stood with his back to her, leaning against the guardrail on the other side of the platform. "Is it done yet?" he asked without looking at them.

"Four more minutes," the Master answered. "Then I will return for Phase Two."

"Excellent," Toby said, his back still turned to them. "You are just in time. I opened the door to the Void. My legions have gathered." He raised his arms like a prophet. Two Daleks rose through the air to hover just on the other side of the railing.

Rose glanced at Kit and Jack. Filled with dread, they walked the short distance across the platform to the guardrail. Rose's jaw dropped as she saw the plain rolling out before them.

_They go on forever!_

The platform stood on a small rise. Below it, between two rows of radio telescopes, Daleks and Cybermen stood in ranks. Row after row of them, gleaming in the hot sunlight. _How many did we send into the Void? At least five million Cybermen. And I don't know how many Daleks. They're all here._

"My God," Jack breathed beside her.

Toby turned toward them with a dark smile and glowing red eyes, more Beast than man now. "You have learned," he said.

"Wasn't talking to you," Jack snapped back.

"No respect," the Master said, fiddling with Jack's blaster. Casually, he raised it and fired at Jack.

Kit screamed as Jack's body toppled over the railing and plummeted to the ground. She ran to the railing and nearly went over herself before Rose grabbed onto her. The two women sank to their knees, Kit's eyes fixed on Jack's broken form below. Rose stared at the Master in shocked disbelief.

Nonchalantly, he leaned over the railing to look down, then looked back at Rose and Kit. "I don't know about any of you, but I was getting tired of his mouth."

* * *

_Four minutes earlier…_

The Doctor grimaced as a high-pitched whine filled the air. "I don't suppose you can turn that down?" he called out.

No answer. The whining sound continued. "I didn't think so," he muttered. He could hear Madhukar flipping switches at the control panel. "Madhukar, I know I haven't been the best teacher, certainly not the most orthodox, but this really isn't necessary—"

The conversion assembly began to move. The Doctor scrunched his eyes shut and clenched his jaw in anticipation. Then his eyes flew open again as he heard the sound of lasers and crashing metal. The whine stopped and his shackles clicked open. He sat up and looked around.

The three Cybermen were on the floor, their heads neatly severed by the lasers on the conversion assembly, now stopped and silent above him.

"Three Cybermen down, nearly five million to go," Madhukar said, flicking one final switch. He looked up at the Doctor with eyes that had returned to their normal state. "We must hurry."

The Doctor swung his legs off the table and stood up, staring at the Seeker. "You reset the controls to turn the lasers onto the Cybermen! But…that would have taken some technical expertise, and I know you're no good at anything technical."

Madhukar raised one eyebrow. "Is that any way to talk to a fellow scientist, Doctor? Or should I call you John Smith?"

The Doctor's jaw dropped. The voice was Madhukar's, but the speaking pattern and the knowledge…even the body language… _"Tremas?"_

The other man inclined his head with a slight smile. "At your service, old friend."

The Doctor walked up to him, looking him up and down in shock. "You…how…What about Madhukar?"

The other man's stance shifted slightly, and when he spoke, the Doctor could hear a difference. "I am here, Acarya. I am here, and he is here." Another shift. "Your student is sharing his mind with me. I was able to slip in when the Master tried to possess Madhukar." He stepped over to one of the fallen Cybermen and knelt down beside it. "We can stop all of this if we can knock out the transmitters."

"Transmitters? Plural?" the Doctor asked in surprise.

"The Master set up multiple transmission points here, just in case you managed to escape and destroy one. He decided you couldn't damage more than two."

The Doctor moved beside him. "How many are there?"

"One system downstairs, three out there. And the armies are massing between them," was the grim answer. "We'll need weapons."

The Doctor looked up at the conversion assembly. "We can take the lasers from that," he suggested.

A headshake. "Those weapons are hard-wired, and it would take too long. But we can take them from here." He pointed to the Cyberman's arm.

"The lasers from the Cybermen!" the Doctor said.

"Exactly, Acarya." This time it was Madhukar speaking, holding the sonic screwdriver out with a grin. "Something else that I slipped away from the Master when he wasn't paying attention."

The Doctor took the sonic screwdriver and started disassembling the arm of the Cyberman. "Tremas, the Master said you'd gone mad," the Doctor told him as he worked.

A slight smile crossed Madhukar's face as Tremas answered. "That is what he thinks. I've been deceiving the deceiver for a long, long time. He's too conceited to believe that he could be fooled by _lesser _beings."

The Doctor pulled laser component from the arm and passed it over. "He also said your knowledge was useful."

A chuckle from the other man as he took the laser. "He never learned anything that valuable from my memories. We tossed him a few bones, as Bruce would say."

_The other trapped mind,_ the Doctor thought as he moved to the next Cyberman. "Is Bruce with you also?"

Madhukar/Tremas shook his head as he worked with the laser. "He stayed behind, keeping up the illusion. I was able to plant a suggestion, a psychic ghost of myself if you will. The Master thinks we're busy raving in the back of his brain. He's kept us shoved back there for years."

The Doctor finished with the second Cyberman and moved on to the last one. "You planted a suggestion?"

"You know the Master's one true mastery is hypnosis. I learned more from him than he ever did from me," Tremas replied. "I saw much in his mind, and through his eyes." He was silent for a moment, and then said, "I saw the way you cared for my daughter. I want to thank you for that."

The Doctor paused to look up at him. "It was my pleasure," he said sincerely.

A moment of silent understanding passed, and then they both bent their heads back to their work.

* * *

"You didn't have to kill him!" Rose shouted. Kit was still shaking in her arms, her eyes cast down on the scene below. 

The Master smirked as he leaned back against the guardrail. "No, I didn't have to. I wanted to. He was mine."

Kit's head jerked up. Rose gasped to see her eyes, blazing crimson in her tear-tracked face. "And you're _mine_," Kit hissed. She made a motion with her hand, and the Master lurched away from the railing. A look of terror crossed his face.

Toby, on the other hand, looked pleased. "Very good, young one! You have the power, and a whole Mediary at your disposal. Now show me what you can do with it."

Kit whirled on him. "I can stop _you_!" she said angrily.

One of the hovering Daleks swiveled its eyestalk toward her. "You will not interfere!" it snapped.

Kit raised her other hand and then slowly clenched it into a fist. Rose gaped as the Dalek began to collapse in on itself, like a tin can crushed by invisible forces. Kit made a throwing motion, and the ruined Dalek was flung into the other one that was still floating next to the platform. Both of them dropped to the ground.

Toby was laughing. "Well done, young one! But can you stop them all?"

"No, Kit!" Rose cried. "It'll kill you!"

Kit snapped, "Do you think I care? Jack's dead!" She looked over at Rose, and the glow faded from her eyes. "I'm sorry, Rose," she said in a softer voice. "I was looking forward to being your friend. But I have to stop this. Now. And there's only one way." Her eyes smoldered red again as she turned her attention back toward the Master. "But first, for you!" Another motion of her hand, and the guardrail broke. A section of it twisted around him, binding him tightly. In a satisfied tone, Kit said, "That will hold you for now. I have bigger fish to fry. A couple million of them!" She walked past him toward the open section of the guardrail and stepped through it.

Rose cried out in horror, thinking Kit was leaping to her death. But Kit didn't fall. Instead, she was surrounded by tendrils of swirling darkness. _Just the opposite of what's in the heart of the TARDIS_, Rose thought numbly. The tendrils buoyed her, and she moved toward the massed armies.

"Hell was too good for you," she announced in a voice that rang across the plain. "It ends here at Megiddo." She made a sweeping motion with one arm, and rows of Cybermen began crashing into each other like dominoes. She slammed her other arm downward, and a group of Daleks was flattened.

Seeing their numbers being decimated, the armies began to fight back. "Exterminate!" shrieked thousands of Dalek voices, mingling with a Cyberman chorus of, "Delete! Delete! Delete!"

Dalek rays blasted at Kit, and the Cybermen began firing their lasers. But nothing could pierce the dark power surrounding her. Instead, the violet-black tendrils seemed to suck in the energy of the weapons. Kit reached out and rolled some of it up like a ball. She pitched it with deadly accuracy down the middle of the ranks, smashing more of the enemy forces.

Rose watched the destruction with wide eyes. Then she realized Toby was laughing. "She's destroying your armies, but you think it's funny?" she asked. "You've been pushing her to take the power like this. Why?"

"So I can feed," Toby answered. "As she destroys my unwitting disciples, she draws more and more of the energy of the Vortex and refines it within herself, making that power even stronger. Perfect for me to use. Soon she will be a feast to restore my full power." He smiled darkly at Rose. "Just like the other angels who followed me before."

Furious, Rose launched herself at Toby, landing a sharp blow on his chin and sending him stumbling backwards. With a growl, he turned back toward her, wiping blood from his lip. He took a step toward her, when a sudden jolt rocked the platform. Rose could hear a low rumble, and looked back at the plain. Kit was making slicing motions, churning up tons of dirt and debris, and sending the Cybermen and Daleks flying in a whirlwind of smashing machinery. The ground shook, with huge cracks breaking through the soil. The platform jerked again, and Rose careened into Toby as the tower began to lean.

* * *

"There! Just a few modifications and each of these is now more powerful than the original models." 

The Doctor took the proffered laser and looked at it closely. "How powerful?"

"Try it and see," Tremas replied with Madhukar's voice.

The Doctor raised the weapon, pointed it at the wall and fired. The laser blasted away a large section of concrete, opening the room to the outside. "I'm impressed," the Doctor said, rising to look out of the gaping hole. This side of the building looked out on a seemingly endless stretch of empty brown desert. "Very impressed. Let's go."

They ran down the steps to the main room. "Which computer…oh, never mind," the Doctor said. He shot out the entire bank, and then started toward the exit. Over his shoulder, he said, "I know Madhukar doesn't use weapons…Tremas, what kind of shot are you?"

The other man gave him the kind of smile that had never crossed Madhukar's face before, grim and almost feral. "Something else I learned from the Master," Tremas answered.

They ran outside, to be greeted by cries of _EXTERMINATE_ and _DELETE_ in the distance, mixed with the sounds of crashing metal just beyond. "It sounds like that's where the action is!" the Doctor said.

His companion nodded. "The other transmitters are there, beyond that tower."

Together, they bolted across the ground toward the base of the tower ahead of them. As they reached it, the Doctor skidded to a stop, staring in horror at the ground where Jack lay like a broken doll. Jack's contorted position and the scorching on his chest told the Doctor everything he needed to know, but he still knelt down next to his friend and felt for a pulse. He knew it was a futile gesture but—

The Doctor gasped as he felt a throb under his fingers. Thready, but growing stronger. He rocked back on his heels as Jack took in a huge gasp and opened his eyes. With a great effort, Jack straightened his twisted limbs, sat up and looked around wildly. "What the hell happened to me?" he demanded.

"I was going to ask the same of you!" the Doctor exclaimed. "You were dead, Jack. I'd swear it."

"So would I," Jack told him.

The ground rumbled underneath them. "We are running out of time!" Madhukar's voice was agitated. He held one of the lasers out to Jack. "Can you shoot?"

Jack took the weapon, looking at him quizzically. "You know I can."

"He's not quite himself," the Doctor explained as he helped Jack to his feet. "I'll explain later. We need to go! Can you run, Jack?"

Jack nodded, and the three men rounded the corner of the tower. The plain came into view. "Oh, my God!" Jack cried out. "She did what he wanted! It'll kill her! Kit! Stop!"

The Doctor stared in shock. The Legion of the Beast was being wiped out. Kit was hovering above the destruction, surrounded by violet-black whorls of energy. Jagged cracks were appearing in the ground, running toward them.

"She can't hear you, Jack. But if we stop the discord, she'll stop! What are our targets?" the Doctor shouted.

Madhukar pointed. "There! And there, and there!"

They pointed their lasers to fire, and stumbled as the ground moved beneath their feet again. They could hear the sound of groaning metal from the tower behind them. The Doctor looked back to see it starting to lean.

"Doctor, Jack, now!" The men fired their weapons at three of the radio telescopes. Each of the antennae exploded into a ball of fire as the tower began to fall.

A thunderclap shook the sky. Suddenly it was filled with beings glowing with bright, golden light.

* * *

Rose crashed into Toby with a force that knocked the wind out of her. He grabbed onto her arms so she couldn't strike him again, and held on, grinning madly as the tower leaned more and started to topple over. 

A blast of wind and heat made them look out over the plain. Three of the radio telescopes had gone up in flames. Toby let her go and howled as the sky blazed with golden light.

Rose shut her eyes against a blinding flash right next to her. She opened them again as she felt a set of arms around her, and looked into a shining face. "You're safe, Rose Tyler," said the angel holding her. Another flash, and they were on the ground. The tower slammed down behind them, sending up clouds of dust. The angel held up his hand, and a shimmer sprang up, the dust roiling behind it blocked from reaching them.

"Rose!" She turned to see the Doctor running toward her, followed by Madhukar. And a little farther back, staring over the plain…_"Jack?"_

She ran into the Doctor's arms, weak with relief. "I thought you were dead!" she told him. "And I saw the Master kill Jack. How—?"

"I don't know yet, Rose," he answered. "Where are Toby and the Master?"

"In our control, Doctor," the angel answered, pointing upward. Toby was held fast by a pair of angels, and surrounded by more. The group disappeared in a brilliant flare. At the same time, another pair of angels appeared and deposited the Master on the ground, still wrapped in the remains of the metal guardrail.

"What about Kit?" Rose asked the angel. His smile disappeared. He didn't answer, but instead looked out over the plain.

A phalanx of angels were destroying the remaining Daleks and Cybermen. More surrounded Kit, who was still in midair with dark tendrils swirling around her. They called to her, and she answered in a language the Doctor didn't recognize.

"The TARDIS isn't translating," Rose observed with a frown. "Why?"

"Do you remember the words of the Beast on Krop Tor?" the Doctor replied. "That's the language. Impossibly old."

"They're telling her to give up the power," the angel said in his golden tenor. "But she wants to hold it until she burns herself out."

"That will kill her!" the Doctor protested. "I told her not to sacrifice herself!"

Rose answered bleakly, "She thinks Jack is dead, Doctor. She doesn't care."

"The power is already killing her," the angel said in a grim tone. He walked to Jack, who was watching with fear-widened eyes. He laid a hand on Jack's shoulder. "You can stop this. Call her. I'll make sure she hears."

Jack glanced over at the angel, and then turned his gaze back at the plain and cupped his hands round his mouth. "Kit! Angel!" he called, his voice filled with desperation and love and amplified by the angel's touch.

Kit jerked her head up and looked toward them. Her eyes widened in shock and wonder. _"JACK?"_ she cried.

The glow faded from her eyes and the dark tendrils shrank away to nothingness as she surrendered the power that had been holding her up above the plain. Like a wounded bird, she fell.


	7. Chapter 7 Shades of Grey

**Author's Notes:** Many many thanks to Aibhinn for all the help with this installment! This chapter refers to other stories in the Tracking Torchwood continuity; specifically The Midnight Clear, also archived here.

As always, Kit and Madhukar are mine; all else belongs to the BBC.

* * *

**Chapter Seven – Shades of Grey**

The Doctor felt Rose clutch his arm tightly and heard Jack's cry of anguished fear as Kit plummeted toward the ground. In a flash, the angel disappeared and reappeared, plucking her from the sky and spiraling down to land at the edge of the ravaged plain. Jack ran to them with his friends at his heels.

The angel knelt down, holding Kit with a tender expression. _"D'hiraya'azvasa, Kit-kat,"_ he was saying softly. Her face was buried against his chest, and she murmured something in return before letting out a long sigh and falling silent.

The angel looked up at Jack and gave him a slight nod. Jack knelt opposite him and reached out to take Kit and cradle her against himself. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was shallow. The angel stroked her hair, then stood again to speak to the Doctor. "I knew sending Kit to you was the right thing, Doctor," he said.

Rose exclaimed, "You're the one who threw her into the TARDIS?" When the angel nodded, she said sharply, "You know she showed up naked, bleeding, and in shock? We couldn't get her to respond for a long time, not even to Jack! Couldn't you have been a little more careful if you care about her so much?"

"There was too much going on at the time for me to worry about details," the angel answered, unfazed. His voice was somber, but there was just a hint of a twinkle in his eye. "I knew she'd be safe with you and that you'd be able to help us. Thank you for restoring the Music, Doctor. Thanks to all of you."

"You're welcome, but you have us at a disadvantage," the Doctor said.

"Ka'israfa'elazari'as, Teacher of the Third Circle," the angel introduced himself with a slight incline of his head. "But since Kit entrusted you with her heart name, I know I can do the same. Just call me Raf."

The Doctor cocked his head curiously. "Or Raphael?" he asked with a glint in his eye. When Raf gave him a slight shrug of assent, the Doctor said, "Well! Quite a day, Rose. First you took on the devil…and now you've scolded an archangel! I don't think even your mother would do that!"

Rose gasped a little in surprise. Raf winked at her and said, "Quite all right, Rose Tyler. It takes strength of all sorts to fight the good fight—and protecting your friends is always an excuse, even for scolding one of the First Circle." He leant forward and whispered, "I did see what you and the Doctor got up to in Judea on Christmas Eve, though. Tsk, tsk."

She blushed violently, and he laughed, standing back up to his full height. "But you have our thanks for helping us stop this one—" he gestured toward the Master "—and the one who was taken over by the one you call the Beast."

"What happened to him—Toby?" Rose asked.

She was answered by another melodic voice, this one deeper in tone. "The Circles will deal with that one," replied another angel that descended to join them. "He will be confined again, able to hear the Music but not touch it."

"That's all?" Rose demanded, incensed. "After everything he's done?"

The new angel looked at her disdainfully. "It is worse than you can imagine, human."

"Michael, they can't understand what they haven't been taught," Raf interjected. "Rose, there's no death for the First Circle. But he's condemned to a fate worse than that.

_"Think'st thou that I, who saw the face of God,  
And tasted the eternal joys of heaven,  
Am not tormented with ten thousand hells  
In being deprived of everlasting bliss?"_

"I understand," the Doctor said thoughtfully. "Rose, remember when Kit first woke up in the TARDIS? Screaming because she couldn't hear the Music? For the Beast, who rejected it, hearing the Music again without being able to touch or use its power would be an eternity of torture."

Raf smiled. "You're a quick learner, Doctor."

"Doctor?" Jack called, his voice sounding panicked. "She's not waking up." He was stroking Kit's face with a worried expression. She was very pale, and her breathing was becoming slower. "She's cold…why is she so cold? She gave up the power."

Haughtily, Michael answered, "Simply taking it means her death."

Jack looked up at him, stricken. "No!"

"But she did it to stop the Beast!" Rose protested. "You're angels! Can't you, I don't know, work a miracle or something?"

Raf began to answer, but Michael cut him off. "No, we can_not_! This one chose to leave the Circles. Then she chose to take the power of the Vortex outside of the Music. Now she pays the price." He glared over at Raf. "You indulged her far too often, brother."

"What about mercy?" the Doctor asked harshly. "Certainly angels should know something about that!"

"Do not presume to judge us, Doctor," Michael said coldly. "She knows the laws of the Circles and chose to break them."

"Chose? Or was forced to choose?" Madhukar objected. "She did not take the power to rule! She took it to defend others! To stop Armageddon! If she hadn't done it, you would still be lost in discord. Surely that counts for something!"

"Mitigating circumstances!" the Doctor added, looking sidelong at his student and wondering whether it really _was_ his student talking.

But the next words were definitely Madhukar's. "I was taught the Ekala are always correct in their judgment. But this is _wrong, you_ are wrong, and _we_ were wrong about you," he said. "The law is the law…" he glanced over at the Doctor and smiled, "…but now I see that sometimes it must be questioned."

The Doctor smiled slightly in return, despite the situation. "There are shades of grey."

Madhukar nodded. "Now I understand why you've sometimes broken the Laws of Time, Acarya. Strict obedience to the law sometimes makes you ignore the reason it was made." He turned back to Michael. "Your law was meant to prevent another rebellion in the Circles. Kit was trying to save the Circles. And you are going to punish her for that? If you let her die, how are you better than him?" He pointed over where the Master still lay, guarded by two angels, male and female.

The Master let out a harsh, ironic laugh. "They're not," he said. "But they find it convenient for you to believe in their divinity."

"We're different, not divine," Raf corrected. He made a motion with his hand, and the Master was suddenly talking with no sound. Raf looked back at the Doctor with an arched eyebrow. "He talks a lot and says absolutely nothing, so we'll let him say absolutely nothing." He turned to Michael. "You know the Seeker is right."

Michael grumbled, "It is not for mortals to question us."

_"Khazala'ist!"_ Raf snapped in a tone that made the Doctor certain it was a curse. Raf drew in a breath, and said in a calmer voice, "It's a question of intent, brother. Let this one go.

"_The quality of mercy is not strain'd…  
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven  
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;  
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:  
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest._

"Wouldn't mercy best suit the mightiest of the Circles?"

The two archangels stared at each other in a contest of wills. Jack looked back and forth between them, his heart in his eyes. _"Please?"_ he asked in a desperate whisper.

At last, Michael seemed to relax and let out a sigh. "All right, then, brother. You're the healer. Lead us, and we'll sing with you."

Raf nodded and resumed his kneeling position next to Kit. Jack held her, muscles trembling with the effort not to clutch her tightly to him, to allow the archangel to heal her properly. His eyes were on her face, and the Doctor could read his hope in his gaze.

Raf laid one shining hand on Kit's forehead, took her hand with the other, and then began to sing. Michael and the other angels joined him, creating a harmony so close, so complex, it made the Doctor's hearts ache with the beauty of it. He felt Rose lean against him, and looked down to see her eyes brimming.

As the angels continued to sing, golden light collected around Kit. Rose squeezed his arm and whispered, "Just like the heart of the TARDIS." The Doctor nodded and slid his arm around her.

Still singing, Raf lifted the hand that was on Kit's forehead and held it open, gathering the radiance that surrounded her into a globe. He passed the globe over her body, pausing over her heart for a moment and then moving up to her forehead again. With a turn of his wrist, he dispersed the energy, sending the radiance scattering. He passed his hand over her closed eyes, and ended his song. As the other angels sang their last notes, he leaned in to kiss her forehead and whispered again, _"D'hiraya'azvasa, Kit-kat."_ He sat back on his heels and told Jack, "She'll sleep now. It'll be all right."

Her color was returning to normal. Jack held her closer and said, "She's getting warmer already." His voice was shaky, just on the edge of tears as he looked back up at the angels. "Thank you. I know I'm not worthy of an angel— "

"You don't give yourself enough credit, Jack Harkness," Raf interrupted gently. "Kit wasn't yet worthy of any of you. You, Rose, the Doctor…all of you know what it is to lay down your life for another. Even the Seeker knows a form of self-sacrifice. Kit was afraid to take that step until now." He smiled as he stood, looking at the destruction she'd wrought on the plain. "But once she did take it, she was going to take all the enemy with her. She never does anything halfway." He looked over at Michael, and said formally, "Thank you for indulging me, Ra'emicha'elatha'in."

Michael snorted and shook his head. "I don't know which one is more spoiled, you or her. I must see to the Deceiver. You will take care of this other one?" He motioned at the Master. When Raf nodded, Michael looked down at Kit one more time, shook his head again and disappeared in a flash.

"Not exactly approving, is he?" the Doctor asked. "And I notice he didn't offer his heart name."

Raf gave him a lopsided smile. "Not to a mortal, he wouldn't. If people knew what an ass he can be sometimes, they wouldn't be so quick to name their children for him." He held a finger up to the remaining two angels, who were grinning themselves. "That does _not_ get back to the Circles, is that clear?"

"Perfectly, Teacher!" one of them said, clearly trying to control his smirk.

"Crystal clear!" the other added.

Raf nodded and looked down at the Master. "Now for you." He motioned to the other angels, and they got the Master on his feet. "We don't need that any more. You're not going anywhere," Raf said, waving his hand. The metal binding disappeared. "Now, you have something that doesn't belong to you. There's a spirit in your mind that should've been allowed to rest long ago." He reached out toward the Master's temple.

Watching closely, the Doctor saw a calculating flash in the Master's eyes. He was about to utter a warning when the archangel touched the Master. The next moment, the Master was flung unceremoniously backwards, slamming down into the dirt. The two angels moved to stand over his unconscious form.

Raf shook his head with a _tsk._ "Very rude, trying to get into my head like that. Our minds are dangerous places!" he said. "As I believe you already know, Doctor."

The Doctor chuckled. He was still a bit sore from being literally tossed out of Kit's mind back in the TARDIS.

Raf held up his hand and considered the small silvery cloud floating in it. "I know Bruce is ready. What about Tremas?" He looked over at Madhukar.

The Seeker's stance changed slightly as Tremas used his voice one more time. "Doctor, you know how much I appreciate all you did for Nyssa. If you should see her again, please tell her that her father's love is always with her."

"I will," the Doctor promised.

Tremas/Madhukar turned back to Raf. "Larana and Kassia are waiting," he said. "I have been ready for a long, long time."

The archangel smiled and stretched his free hand out to touch Madhukar. The Seeker swayed a little as another silvery cloud gathered around Raf's hand and was drawn away. Raf held both hands in front of himself, the clouds cupped in his palms. "Be at peace," he said softly, and released the clouds with a slight flick of his wrists.

"Goodbye, old friend," the Doctor murmured, watching as the clouds floated skyward and dissipated. Rose slipped her hand into his and gave it a squeeze. When the last bits of mist had disappeared, he looked back at Raf. "What about the Master?"

Raf looked thoughtful. "He wants to rule, right?" He turned back to the other angels. "Kes, Vheen, why don't you build him a little kingdom here in this Mediary? Be sure to give him plenty of…ah…_challenges._ Be creative. But keep the technology level low. Hmmm….Bronze Age, I think. See how he handles ruling a world without indoor plumbing." He gave the Doctor a grin. "They say you have to be careful what you wish for."

"He won't be able to get out, will he?" Rose asked as the two angels began to speak softly to each other in their own language, gesticulating as they began to make plans.

Raf shook his head. "Not without help from the Circles, and not one of us will give it after what he did. But even if he did find a way, that body won't last outside this Mediary. The power here is all that's keeping him whole now."

Jack looked up sharply. "Is that power why I came back to life after he shot me?"

"Ah. That is something quite different, Jack," Raf said in a low voice, looking over at the other angels. Seeing that they were deep in their conversation, he went on quietly, "This was only known to the First Circle. When Rose brought you back on Satellite Five, you were changed. You can't die without consenting to it."

"But everything dies!" the Doctor protested.

Raf smiled. "Sometimes we have to break a few rules in service of what must be. This is one of those cases. A little more fallout from the Time War. When the Dalek Emperor fell through time, he disturbed the Music, changing it to something that never should have been."

"That's why Satellite Five never seemed right!" Rose said.

"Exactly, Rose. Everything that happened when you were brought there was part of setting the Music right again. Jack, we needed to bring you back. Earth needed you. Immortality was, well, an unintended side effect." Raf grinned over at Rose. "We can't _quite_ work miracles. Even angels have their limitations. Jack, you have the choice to give back the gift when you're weary at last." At Jack's look of confusion, he said, "Eventually, you'll understand that immortality is a cruel fate for someone who's not born to it as we are."

Jack gazed down again at Kit, cuddled against him. "What about Kit?"

Raf reached out and removed the earpiece she was still wearing. "She can't hear the Music now. Not even with your help, Seeker," he said to Madhukar, who removed his own earpiece. "She can't see what must be anymore. But there will be compensation. Some of her senses will become stronger to make up for what she's lost."

"She was born to immortality," Jack said. "Has she lost that? Am I going to lose her someday?" The last question came out in a whisper.

Raf gave him a sympathetic smile. "Will she break your heart again? Jack, you know I can't tell you the future. But I will tell you this. There's always hope." He made a motion, and a red leather bound book appeared in his hand. "When she's up to it, this is a last assignment from me. _Purgatorio_ will be quite relevant." He passed the book to the Doctor. "There will be some gaps in her mind when she wakes. She'll only remember the things she's seen or studied personally. The TARDIS will help you keep her from crossing her timeline accidentally, but there are a few things I can tell you to avoid. London during the Blitz, the 2004 World Series, movie openings at Grauman's Chinese Theater…"

"Any in particular?" the Doctor asked in an amused voice, completely unsurprised.

Raf grinned. "All of them. I'm afraid I did spoil her. Teacher's privilege." He knelt down to press one more kiss into Kit's hair. "_Ka'isata ka'ala, Kit-kat._"

"Whenever I call her that, she threatens me with dire consequences," the Doctor observed. When Rose laughed, he protested, "Remember Judea? Coal in one's Christmas stocking _is_ a dire consequence!"

Now everyone was laughing at him. With a chuckle, Raf said, "Using her child name is also a teacher's privilege. And, I think, a lover's." He bent his head close to Jack's and murmured something too softly for the Doctor to hear. When he stood again, Jack was grinning broadly. "Tell her the Circles will miss her laughter," Raf said. He turned to the Doctor. "My thanks again. And some advice, one teacher to another?" When the Doctor nodded, Raf went on, "It's all right to doubt yourself. Not even the angels have all the answers."

He waved his hand, and there was a bright flash. When the Doctor's vision cleared, he was standing with his companions in the console room of the TARDIS. He could feel her relief and happiness, glowing like summer sunshine in his mind as the time rotor began to move. He concentrated for a moment, and saw the Web of Time restored to its normal state.

Madhukar moved to the console and looked at one of the monitors. "We're in the Vortex again," he said. "And the Song…Rose, listen." She took his outstretched hand and listened with him.

"It's different," she said after a moment, opening her eyes again. "Happy, but also just a little bit sad. Sort of the way I felt when I came home, Doctor. So happy to be with you again, but sad to leave my family behind." She left Madhukar's side and wrapped her arms around the Doctor. "But like the angel said, there is compensation to make up for what I lost."

Slowly, Jack stood up, carefully lifting Kit in his arms. "I hope the compensation is enough."

* * *

Rhythm.

That was the first thing she was aware of. It wasn't the rhythm of the Music that she'd always known. This was different, steady and reassuring, standing alone, not part of the complex harmony of Time.

Or maybe it _was_ part of it. She wasn't sure, because all she could hear was the rhythm. The harmony was gone.

That didn't disturb her as much as it probably should have. But, cocooned in softness, Kit was far too warm and comfortable to think disturbing thoughts. They could wait until later. With a content sigh, she tried to burrow deeper in the softness, but found herself blocked by something firm and unyielding. She gave it a little push, and a grunt disrupted the rhythm. Frowning a little, she pushed again.

"Angel, if you want me to move, just ask."

Her eyes flew open, and she found herself in bed in a darkened room, nestled in Jack's arms with her head pillowed on his chest. The rhythm that had woken her was his heartbeat. Her soft cocoon was actually a silken duvet wrapped around them. Disbelievingly, she moved her hands up to his face. He closed his eyes as she ran her palms over his cheeks, and kissed her fingers as they traced over his lips. "I thought I imagined you, but you're here," she whispered. "I don't understand. I saw him kill you. And I should be dead." She studied his face, just barely visible in the meager light from the digital clock on the nightstand. "Maybe I am dead."

He chuckled. "You and Rose, never believing what you see. She thought she was dead when we rescued her. Now, how did the Doctor convince her? Hmmm…oh, yes. Like this." He drew her up for a long, loving kiss that made her heart skip a beat.

_The dead can't feel their hearts beating,_ she thought.

"Does that feel like you're dead?" he asked softly as he drew back.

She sighed. "If I am dead, I don't want to know it yet," she whispered, and snuggled back against him, breathing in his scent. _The dead can't smell sandalwood and spice._ "We're in the TARDIS…this is your room," Kit said. "How...how am I here, Jack? How are _you_ here?"

"Well, I could have put you in your own room," Jack answered, "but you've only got the single bed, and…I needed to hold you while you were sleeping." His voice broke a little. "I thought I'd lost you."

"So did I," she replied in a whisper. She closed her eyes and listened to his heart again, felt him kiss the top of her head. Then she summoned up the courage to ask again, "How are you here, Jack? I saw him kill you."

"Remember helping Rose to hold the power of the Vortex on Satellite Five?" he asked. When she nodded, he continued, "She brought me back to life, but that wasn't all. She changed me. If I get killed, I come back. It hurts like hell, but I still come back." At her surprised gasp, he tightened his arms around her. "It's all right. I have it on good authority that it's just another part of what must be."

Kit raised her head to look at him. "Who—?" She could just vaguely remember a shining figure reaching out to her as she fell, and a musical voice telling her everything would be all right.

She could just make out Jack's smile in the dim light. "Your teacher. He caught you. And don't you ever, _ever_ scare me like that again!" he mock-scolded, touching his forehead to hers and giving her another squeeze.

She didn't answer, focusing instead on what the Vortex power had done to Jack. "If you can't be killed, does that mean you've become immortal?"

"It means I can choose when and how I leave this life," Jack answered. "Puts me one up on the Doctor."

She realized that she hadn't even asked about the others. "Is he all right? What about Rose and Madhukar?"

"Everyone is safe and sound," he assured her. "The good guys won again."

"But at what cost?" she asked. "Jack, you didn't really answer me before. How am I here? I took the power of the Vortex outside of the Music. That…that should have killed me."

He cupped her cheek and said, "It almost did. But you took it for all the right reasons, and that saved you." He laughed a little. "If the Time Lord thing doesn't work out, Madhukar should consider being a lawyer. He made one hell of an argument in your defense, and Michael agreed to help heal you."

Her eyes widened. _The First of the Circles almost never bends!_ "What's the catch, Jack? There has to be one."

He stroked her cheek. "Tell me what you feel."

He still wasn't answering her directly, but the sensation of his hand against her cheek was so exquisite. She leaned into the touch, closing her eyes and relishing the contact. "I feel…it feels so _good_ to be here with you like this. I feel warm. Safe. Loved."

His lips covered hers in a tender kiss. "You are," he told her. "But focus on your senses."

She concentrated for a moment, then said, "Everything is so much more intense than it was before—" She stopped and opened her eyes. "Wait. Touch…smell…" She leaned forward to kiss him again, her tongue sweeping delicately over his lower lip to take in salty sweetness before she drew back. "Taste." Her senses were sharper, heightened to an acute level. It was a near-overload that had drawn her attention away from what was missing. The disturbing thought that she'd shoved aside before now came roaring back. She looked back at him with wide eyes. "Jack, I can't hear the Music. There's just…nothing."

His other hand moved up so he could cradle her face gently. "I know. That was the cost, Angel. But Raf told me to tell you there's always hope. And he had one last assignment for you."

She chuckled. "There's always one more thing with him."

Jack grinned and reached over to take a book off the nightstand and flick on the bedside lamp. She closed her eyes against the sudden brightness, and cuddled back against him as he shifted back into place. "He said 'Purgatorio' will be relevant for you.

_"E canterò di quel secondo regno  
dove l'umano spirito si purga  
e di salire al ciel diventa degno. _

"Now I sing the second kingdom  
There where the soul of man is cleansed  
Made worthy to ascend to heaven."

She thought about that for a moment, her eyes still closed. "Dante," she said. "And you read it in the original Italian. Figures you would be able to speak a Romance language."

"More than one," he laughed. "Foreign languages were a requirement at the Time Agency, and…well, what else would you expect from me?"

"'To thine own self be true,'" she said with a smile. She thought about the verse and Raphael's message. "So…this is my time in purgatory." She opened her eyes and looked up at Jack. "Serving it with you isn't so bad."

He stared at her in surprise. "Something wrong?" she asked self-consciously.

"Your eyes," he said in wonder. "I couldn't really see them until I turned the light on." He slid out of the bed and held a hand out. "Come and see."

He led her to the mirror over his dresser. She stared at her reflection, and gasped when she realized that blue eyes were no longer staring back. "They're purple!" She shook her head and leaned closer. Her irises had darkened to a deep violet. "I've been marked by the Vortex."

Jack slipped his arms around her from behind and looked at her in the mirror. "They're gorgeous," he murmured into her ear. "And the soul behind them is still the one I fell in love with."

She turned in his embrace to face him, running her hands up his chest and winding her arms around his neck. "I love you, Jack." He kissed her gently. When they parted, she whispered, "There's nothing to hold us back now."

He just held her, one hand tracing light circles on her back. "Are you sure? You've been through a lot." He bent his head lower to look searchingly into her eyes. "I want our first time to be more than just a reaction to adrenaline overload."

Understanding, she nodded and hugged him closer. "This isn't adrenaline backlash, Jack. I want you. Need you."

He kissed her again, not gently this time but wanting and loving and needing, leaving them both breathing heavily when he pulled away and rested his forehead against hers. "I've done a lot of things, but I've never made love to an angel before," he said.

She smiled slightly. "I gave up the Music, Jack. I'm not an angel any more."

"Sez you," he told her, eyes twinkling. "As far as I'm concerned, you'll always be an angel."

Her smile got wider. "That has to be the sweetest thing I've ever heard," she said. "And quite possibly the sappiest."

Laughing, he swept her up and whirled her around to the bed, dropping her back on the duvet and pouncing, his legs straddling hers as he hovered over her. "_Sappy?_" he demanded teasingly as he tickled her sides. She giggled and grabbed at his hands to still them, but he caught her wrists instead and pinned them on either side of her head. "Sappy? You'd better watch yourself, Giggles."

She froze and stared up at him in surprise. "Raf told you that?"

He kissed the tip of her nose and said, "Lover's privilege, he told me. And at the risk of sounding _sappy_," he winked at her, "your giggles are the second most beautiful sound in the universe."

"What's the first?" she asked with a smile.

He bent his head to whisper huskily into her ear, "You calling my name when I make love to you."

* * *

Raphael's first quote is from Marlowe's _The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus._ The second is from _The Merchant of Venice_ by William Shakespeare. _Purgatorio_ is the second section of _The Divine Comedy_ by Dante Alighieri.


	8. Chapter 8 The Colors of Joy

**Author's Notes**: I just bought the BBC, so I own it all. (And if you believe that, I've got a couple of nice bridges in Brooklyn and San Francisco for you.) Nope, I just own Kit and Madhukar.

Thanks to Aibhinn for being a great beta! And thanks also to a couple of readers who asked for a little more Doctor/Rose…this chapter ended up being so much better thanks to them.

* * *

**Chapter Eight – The Colors of Joy**

The Doctor leaned back in the captain's seat as he watched Madhukar carefully considering the console controls. _Very_ carefully. He started impatiently tapping his fingers on the seat, then stopped and grinned when Madhukar looked over at him. "Nothing. I didn't say anything. Go on, you're doing fine," he said, clenching his hands onto the edge of his seat to keep himself from jumping off and taking over. He tilted his head back and watched the colors that were swirling along the walls, and felt the TARDIS' jovial mood at the back of his mind. He could almost hear her telling him that she wasn't worried and that he shouldn't be either. _I'll take your word for it, old girl,_ he thought back.

Madhukar took in a breath, blew it out and then began flicking switches and pushing buttons. He pulled the final lever and smiled as the time rotor began to move once again. "Leaving the docking bay of the _Free Enterprise_…and we are back in the Vortex," he reported.

"Well done!" the Doctor congratulated him as he slid off the seat and looked at the monitor. They'd been practicing "touch and goes," quick landings and takeoffs around different points of space and time. Madhukar had finally managed the whole dematerialization sequence without any prompting. "You're better at technical things than you give yourself credit for," the Doctor went on, pleased at the Seeker's progress.

The TARDIS seemed pleased as well, signaling her happiness with a new shade of gold that joined the purples and blues already playing on the walls.

"Perhaps I am," Madhukar conceded with a smile. "Flying this is so much more difficult than flying my little ship was. Still…" he paused for a moment, seeming to consider his words as carefully as he had the console. Then he said, "Acarya, I appreciate that you trust me to pilot the TARDIS. But I get this feeling you're avoiding the real lessons about walking between the ages."

The Doctor froze and stared at him. Then he relaxed with a sheepish grin. "I suppose I am. After all, _you_ don't need a TARDIS to travel through time. Even if you could live long enough to grow one of your own. But you came to me for ethical guidance." He let out a sigh. "I have to confess, right now I'm feeling more than a bit uncertain about playing the role of ethicist."

"Not even the Ekala have all the answers," Madhukar reminded him with a smile. "Don't tell me that you actually believed anything the Master was saying?"

"You seemed to," the Doctor pointed out. That little bit of doubt still stung.

Madhukar shrugged slightly in acquiescence. "I was under the influence of the discord at the time. Have you never made errors in judgment because of a clouded mind?"

The Doctor chuckled. "Nearly every time I regenerate," he admitted.

"What's this talk about regeneration?" Rose asked as she walked into the console room. She exclaimed in surprise as she say the glow on the walls. "Oh! That's lovely!"

"You haven't seen that before?" Madhukar asked curiously.

She shook her head as she watched, entranced. "Only when I first came back to the TARDIS, after Kit went back to the Vortex. We haven't had any angels dropping in, have we?"

_Now we're in for it, old girl,_ the Doctor thought. _Rose is not going to like this, you know._

"No, we haven't. The TARDIS has done this many times since I've been here," Madhukar said. "But, come to think of it, you and the Doctor never have been here in the console room when it's happened."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "Really? So when have you seen this?"

_Uh-oh. She's deducting._

Madhukar thought for a moment. "Last night, two nights before that…practically the whole day before _that_ night…Rose, why are you looking like that?"

She had started to blush at "last night," and now was a bright red. Obviously she remembered just what she'd been doing with—and to—the Doctor at those times. She looked over at him with wide eyes. "You mean when we—Every time we—The TARDIS does _that?_"

"Well, not every time," the Doctor answered. "Just…."

"Just _what?_" Rose demanded.

_I told you she wouldn't like it, old girl._ He got a sense of laughter from the TARDIS. He took a deep breath and glanced upwards before answering. "Welllll…just…just… just every time since you got back," he told her. "Since I rebuilt the Eye of Harmony. The TARDIS now has access to limitless energy, so she has extra power to expend on things like this. Sort of like when you have mad money to spend on something frivolous." This very logical explanation was not doing a thing to mollify Rose. In fact, she was pinning him with a patented Tyler Female glare. He scrubbed at the back of his neck. "It's her reaction to very strong emotions. She does get into our heads, and she's happy when we're happy, so…" He waved his other hand at the walls.

The glare got just a bit fiercer. "And she's doing this now because…?"

He ran his hand up from the back of his neck and rubbed it through his hair. "Well, this is just an educated guess, and I can't be one hundred percent sure it's the right guess," and now the glare had taken on a deadly intensity, so the Doctor decided it was time to get to the point, "but I'd say it means Kit's finally awake." _Don't ask me to elaborate. Please don't._

She didn't. Her eyes just narrowed. "I see. And you knew about all this?" Rose's voice was getting shrill. "Did you know, Madhukar? Does _Jack_ know?"

"Rose— " the Doctor began, but was interrupted by Madhukar.

"I didn't _know_, Rose. Not until now. But there's nothing to be embarrassed about. I may not... _indulge_," he said with a smile and a wink, "but I do understand." A brilliant flare drew their attention back to the walls. "Hmm. Never saw that before."

The Doctor's eyebrows flew upward. "Really? Never? Well, then! I like a challenge!" He grabbed Rose's hand, pulling her toward the corridor. "Come on, Rose!"

She held back. "Doctor! We can't just—"

"Of course we can!" he interrupted with a wink. "Let's go talk about it, shall we?" With a sigh, Rose allowed herself to be pulled along. As they reached the corridor, the Doctor called out, "Madhukar, keep an eye on things here?"

Madhukar grinned. "Of course, Acarya."

* * *

The real challenge, he found, was placating Rose. But it was the kind of challenge he enjoyed, the kind that involved kissing and touching and licking and joining bodies and minds, and soon Rose was enjoying it too.

As they lay wrapped together afterwards, Rose asked him, "You were talking about regeneration before. Why?"

"Madhukar wanted to know if I'd ever made errors in judgment— " Rose started to giggle, and he continued sternly, "Because of a clouded mind, Miss Tyler! And you know very well what regeneration does to my mind."

"Well, we'll have to make sure you don't regenerate again any time soon. We've only just got you broken in. I'd hate to have to start all over again," Rose told him with a twinkle in her eye.

He grinned and drew her in for a long kiss. When they parted, he said, "You know, I've also made errors in judgment when my mind was perfectly clear."

Rose gave him a look of feigned shock. "You're kidding me!"

"Cheeky, Rose Tyler!" he laughed, rolling to hover over her. "And I was about to pay you a compliment!"

Rose schooled her face into a contrite expression, but her eyes were still dancing. "Forgive me for interrupting, Doctor. Compliment away!"

"I was going to say…ah, no smirking, Rose! I was going to say that it was an error in judgment to deny my feelings for you for so long. I love you, Rose." He kissed her again, and felt her smiling against his lips. He smiled as well when he pulled back. "Even when you're smirking at me."

"Don't like the smirk? Then do something about it," Rose dared him.

"Ooh, is that a challenge? I do love challenges," he said, and his mouth descended on a spot on her neck that always made her moan. This time wasn't any different. "Hmmm. Does that mean I win?" he asked, his lips brushing against her skin.

"I think we both do," Rose replied, and melded her mouth to his.

* * *

Madhukar smiled as he watched new colors flaring over the console room walls; brilliant pink and red, slightly more subdued purple and blue, with washes of gold over all. The Song reverberated through his mind with soaring new melodies. "Peace, wisdom and harmony," he said softly to the console. "At least for a little while. Athakara knows we've earned it."

He settled into the captain's chair to meditate as the TARDIS flew on to her future.

_To be concluded…_


	9. Chapter 9 Promises Kept

**Author's Notes:** I just bought the BBC, so I own it all. (And if you believe that, I've got a couple of nice bridges in Brooklyn and San Francisco for you.) Nope, I just own Kit and Madhukar. Actually, I share Madhukar with Aibhinn. He was her idea in the first place. I owe her huge thanks for that and for being an outstanding beta all through this saga.

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**Chapter Nine - Promises Kept**

"Kit, I thought I told you to warn me before lighting any more bonfires in the TARDIS," the Doctor said with a grin as he walked into the library. "Why do I smell smoke in the corridors?"

She was lying on the floor, on her stomach with her feet up in the air behind her, reading the book Raf had left her. "I wasn't trying to light a bonfire," she replied without looking up. "I was _trying_ to cook breakfast when Jack…um…_distracted_ me. Next thing we knew, the toaster was on fire."

The Doctor shook his head as he settled into his favorite chair. "Why am I not surprised?" he chuckled. "Would it be too much to ask you two to exercise a little self-control?"

She put the book down and rolled on her side to look up at him with a grin. "So should I call you 'pot' or 'kettle,' Doctor?" Her grin got wider when the heat rushed into his cheeks. "In our defense," she went on, "we did put the fire out and cleaned everything up. But I regret to inform you that the toaster is, well, toast." Her expression became mournful, but there was a twinkle in her eyes.

Her _violet_ eyes.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow and leaned forward, pulling his sonic screwdriver from his jacket pocket. "New look for you," he observed, dialing a setting and pointing the screwdriver at her. "Let's see if anything else changed."

"I feel fine. More than fine," she said as it whirred and the Doctor ran its blue light down along her body.

"Well, after what the Vortex did to Rose and to Jack, I'm not taking any chances."

She watched him with an amused look. "You know, you could probably make a fortune selling copies of that thing on the Home Shopping Channel. So what's it telling you?"

"Hmmm...Looks like you're now a normal, healthy human female in her mid-20s." He turned the screwdriver off and looked at her very seriously. "And I mean normal in _all_ respects, Kit. Including mortality. Are you all right with that?"

She looked back at him just as seriously. "Do I have any choice?" she asked. "I should be dead, you know. I'll take this second chance."

"Kit, I've been in your mind, even if it was just for a moment. I know what you've given up," he said. Even in memory, the images he'd seen and melodies he'd heard were staggering. Birth songs for stars, dances across the Web of Time, dirges for dying worlds, all interwoven in a never-ending Song. "Losing the Music traumatized you before. I know Raphael said there would be compensation, but if you ever need to talk about it…"

She smiled softly at him. "I'll probably take you up on that. In some ways, you understand me better than Jack ever will. You and I both know what it's like to be cut off from our people."

He nodded, but there was still one other question. "Will Jack be all right with your mortality?"

"We've talked about it already. He's not as thick as a certain Time Lord I know!" She winked at him. "We'll take whatever we get, and we won't waste it. Even at the risk of burning down the kitchen! Besides, if I understand Raf's message, this is my purgatory, and there's always hope." She shifted to sit up, holding up her book. "By the way, you wouldn't happen to have the Classic Comics version of this, would you?"

The Doctor laughed. "At least you didn't ask me for the Cliff's Notes! And no, I don't have either."

She thought for a moment. "_Dante for Dummies?_"

He shook a finger at her. "Told you before, you are not a dummy. Though you are trying to cheat! What would your teacher say?"

She chuckled. "Raf would say I was spoiled rotten. That's the truth, you know."

"Well, I am not contributing to the delinquency of an angel! I'll leave that up to Jack!" he told her with a smirk. "But I do have something else for you." He reached into his jacket pocket and took out the iPod he'd gutted for their Torchwood break-in so long ago. "All fixed and better than before, as promised!" he said, and reached back into his pocket. "And somehow this got under the console grid." He held out her miniature video recorder.

"My D-Snap! And it still has a charge!" she exclaimed as she turned on the device. She pointed the lens at him. "So, Doctor," she said in her best 'television announcer' voice. "We've beaten the Master, the Daleks, the Cybermen _and_ the devil himself. What are we going to do now?"

The Doctor smiled broadly. "We're going to Disney World!" While she giggled, he held up a threatening finger. "Remember, no _Small World._ And no hat shops, teacups or Tiki Rooms!" That bloody song _still_ ran through his head at inopportune moments.

"Oh, ruin all my fun, why don't you?" she said with a pout, lowering the camera. "That's okay. Jack'll go with me."

"Angel, I'll go with you anywhere," Jack said from behind them. He walked into the library carrying two cups of coffee, and handed one to Kit. "Where are we going?"

"The happiest place in the universe!" she answered with a grin.

Jack's eyes lit up. "Back to bed?"

Kit began to laugh again. The Doctor coughed. "I told you, Kit! He's contributing to the delinquency of an angel!" He held up the screwdriver and pointed it at Jack. "Just a quick check, Jack," he explained. After a moment, he said, "Good. Aside from the immortality, everything seems normal. Neither of you will have to stay on the TARDIS the way Rose does. Not that I'm putting you off!" he said, holding up a finger. "You two are family now, and this is your home for as long as you both want it. But if there should ever come a time…"

Kit moved to hug him, and Jack observed teasingly, "It's getting a bit domestic around here, don't you think?"

"Perhaps," the Doctor admitted as Kit let him go. "But the TARDIS is happy. She _was_ always supposed to have more than just one Time Lord aboard."

"Speaking of happy," Jack said, settling on the floor next to Kit, "if the happiest place in the universe isn't our bed," he winked, "then where are we going?"

The Doctor rose from his chair. "I promised her Disney World. But I have one stop to make first, so you two can do whatever you want for now." When they both smiled mischievously, he warned, "Kit, remember what I said about self-control!"

He left them snuggling together in front of the (thankfully unlit) fireplace and headed to the console room, where Madhukar was meditating and Rose was flipping through a magazine. He set some coordinates and flipped some switches as Rose watched him curiously. "I have a promise to keep," he told her.

The rotor stopped. He grabbed his coat. "Come on, Rose. Madhukar, I'm going to want you in a few minutes, so stay right there, all right?"

Rose followed him through the door to the outside. They'd landed in a park-like setting, families and couples scattered across a green lawn. "This looks familiar," Rose said. "Have we been here before?"

"Someplace very much like it. Remember Traken?" When Rose smiled and nodded, he went on, "She likes it because it reminds her of home."

"She?"

"Her," the Doctor answered, pointing at a woman approaching them, an expression of recognition and disbelief on her face.

"Doctor?" the woman asked in an amazed voice.

"Yes, it's me. Just another regeneration. This is Rose," he said. Rose gave her a smile and a small nod, and he went on, "Actually, you've met before, but you were very, very small." He smiled at the memory of a toddler chasing after a bright red ball. Not so long ago for him and Rose, but so very, very long ago for the woman who now stood before him. Her hair was now shot with silver, and her figure had thickened just a bit with the years, but she still had the same bright, curious, intelligent eyes as when they'd traveled together, such a long time ago. She'd gone through so much heartache, so much loss. He hadn't known then what to say or do for her. But now…perhaps this would help. "Nyssa, I have a message for you…from your father."

**The End**


End file.
